Journey of A Thousand Dimensions
by Ares1
Summary: From Wizardworld, the tale that encomassess the entire Omniverse as a group of warriors travel from realm to realm in order to save all that is.
1. Prologue

His eyes burned.  
  
That was the thought foremost on his mind as he tried to make sense of the information his other enhanced senses fed to him. The air was filled with the roar of battle cries and screams of pain, the sound of punches and kicks thrown at speeds faster than light, all mingled with the scent of air singed by energy blasts. And the Power. He could feel power all around him, like it was something he could tangibly touch with his mind, or something he could perceive with his minds eye. And the power he was sensing was enormous. The individuals around him were incredibly powerful.  
  
But he couldn't see anything, because for some reason, his eyes burned.  
  
He tried to remember why his eyes burned so much, but couldn't. Then it occurred to him that he didn't remember what he was doing in the presence of such a momentous battle in the first place. Or, for that matter, what his name was.  
  
"Who....who am I," he whispered to himself, which was barely audible over the battle, even with his finely honed senses. And even his own voice was that of a stranger to him.  
  
He tried to remember anything at all, and found that he knew plenty of things. He knew over 15 styles of martial arts. He knew over 200 different ways to manipulate his internal power, which he remembered was called 'ki'. He could speak several languages. He could do advanced calculus, geometry and had the college equivalent of several PHD's in several major fields.  
  
But not his name.  
  
He shook his head and try to make sense of everything, or ANYTHING. He was kneeling on the ground, one hand placed on the floor to keep him steady, the other one gripping his forehead. His head hurt. In fact, everything hurt right now. He was bleeding from several cuts and abrasions, and he somehow knew that he felt weaker than he was suppose to be. How long had this battle been going on? On who's side was he fighting?  
  
A huge explosion rocked the area, and he grunted as landed on his back against the cold metal floor.  
  
"Metal floor," he wondered. A lab?  
  
Yes, a lab. He somehow knew it was a lab. But how did he get here? And what was-  
  
"Ares," he heard a strong, heroic voice yell over another explosion. "Are you all right?!"  
  
Ares. Was that his name? It sounded right, but what kind of name is Ares? And who called out to him?  
  
Another voice was heard over the battle, much more violence in it's tone.  
  
"Forget about him Kakarotto! Focus instead on theERRRAAAGGHH!!!!"  
  
But it was cut off as it was hit by a powerful bolt of energy.  
  
Ares sat up, even though his body seemed to beg him not to move, as even that simple action hurt him incredibly. The pain in his eyes was lessening though. He opened them slightly and could make out a few images and shapes, but just barely. He still couldn't see more than just varying degrees of brightness and darkness.  
  
Ares rose unsteadily to his feet. He had to do something. ANYTHING. He had a bad feeling that his side was losing, and that somehow it was his fault. It was then that he heard still another voice  
  
"Wretched insects! You have ruined my perfect weapon! My ultimate creation is now tarnished thanks to you!"  
  
From the dialogue, Ares gathered that this was the bad guy. But there was something else. That voice made his head hurt even more, like it was wrapping barbed wire around his brain and squeezing tightly.  
  
Ares grabbed his head again as the pain increased, and the questions arose again. Why couldn't he remember anything? It's like he didn't exist until two or three minutes ago and was force-fed lots of fighting techniques and information. Why couldn't he remember how he got here or-  
  
Ares' thoughts were interrupted by one of his senses, specifically his ability to sense energy. He felt a huge power building up, and could feel that he was it's intended victim. And before he could do anything, the villainous voice continued.  
  
"But your victory will be IN VAIN!"  
  
With that, raw power undreamt of by most men erupted towards Ares.  
  
Something within Ares told him that, on any other day, he wouldn't have had a problem with the blast. He could dodge it or use any number of ki techniques to repel, deflect, disperse or absorb the energy blast. But now, as weak as he was, all he could do is raise his arms and block it, and pray that he survived.  
  
The beam hit Ares dead on, and it hurt. It was akin to a normal person being drowned in battery acid. But Ares would not scream. He would not give his opponent the satisfaction of his cries of pain, even as he was knocked off his feet until he was slammed against something large, hard and very uncomfortable. Ares felt metal break against his skin and wires snap as he apparently smashed into some kind of machine. The jolts of electricity running through him didn't hurt, but Ares was still disoriented from the blast, and now his arms burned.  
  
Then something happened.  
  
"NO!," a female voice cried out. "The T.D.U.!"  
  
This time, Ares cried out in agony. The pain that violently tore through him was too great for him to withstand. It was like his physical form was being agonizingly stretched across an infinite void where it was bombarded on all sides by painful energy. Which, in truth, it was.  
  
His conscious mind was wracked with unfathomable agony, but in the back of his mind, he thought of the acronym T.D.U., and wondered what it meant. Then he remembered.  
  
Trans-dimensional Displacement Unit.  
  
And his screams of agony became roars of anger and frustration as he was painfully ripped from his native universe, spiraling down a white corridor of endless possibilities and destinations.  
  
And in the universe he had just been forcefully evicted from, as he faded from existence, the villainous voice laughed. 


	2. Chapter One: The First Step

In the depths of space, a being soars through the cosmos as if he owned them. Atop a surf board of an ebony material man has no name for, he majestically transversed the stellar pathways of the universe at speeds most sentients could not fathom. Starlight glinted off his own skin, as dark and metallic as that of the token of power on which he rode. There was no air in the vacuum of space, so his long spiky hair that seemed to reach for the heavens remained unmoving as he shot towards his destination, praying a silent prayer to a God he no longer truly believed in that he was not too late.  
  
In mere seconds, he arrived at his destination, and his already grim visage became more so as he gazed upon the sight that greeted him.  
  
A monument to a dead world.  
  
Large chunks of debris filled a sector of space that had once been the spot of a thriving planet. An asteroid field that had once been a world. The dark-skinned man atop the board flew into the corpse of the planet, seeking out any possible signs of life amidst the decaying remains of a shattered planetoid.  
  
There were none. No bodies remained of the sentients that had once inhabited the planet. All had been swept away in the massive cosmic furnace that had consumed this sphere. All that remained was asteroids that varied from pebble size to the size of moons.  
  
The being sank to his knees atop his board, his arms hanging at his side limply, his head hung low at this utter defeat that could not be turned into a victory.  
  
There is no sound in the vacuum of space, though there are ways to make one's self heard in it. But if we could hear in this vacuum, we would hear the lone warrior spitefully hiss the name of his tormentor.  
  
"Galactus."  
  
For a long second, he let that word hang in the vacuum, mocking him and his efforts to save this world.  
  
Then the anger came.  
  
"GALACTUS!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
The being roared in hatred so pure that it was almost holy in it's intensity. In one surge of emotion, his rage flared into existence, his midnight coating pulsating with a golden energy, an aura of intense power that shined like a newborn star, replacing the ebony skin with one of pure gold. The man rose to his feat and bellowed in anger, much louder than his initial roar of hatred. The power rose so much that nearby rocks and asteroids were pushed away from him, some shattering from the force of his aura.  
  
Prince Surfer was very angry indeed. And his anger demanded expression.  
  
With that, the Last Son of Vegeta hurled a cosmic powered ki bolt at a continent sized asteroid, ripping through the rock like a bullet would tear through paper, reducing it to dust and debris. He lashed out again and again, an endless barrage of energy bolts that tore through the remains of the shattered planet, until there was naught around him but a cloud of vapor that had once been all that was left of a world.  
  
Without any target for his anger, the Prince fell to his knees again and repeatedly slammed his fists against the board that carried him through space. Again and again he struck it, until he finally exhausted his reserves of anger and would strike no more. He breathed in and out heavily, out of reflex more than necessity, as he no longer depended on air to survive.  
  
The Sayian Prince was still angry. Angry that he had arrived to late to save this world. Angry that Galactus could hide himself from his cosmic senses, and that he was alerted here only by this world's death and the extinguishing of all life on it. Angry that he had made a deal with that cosmic devil. Angry that he had outlived the race he had been so proud of.  
  
And once again, he roared to the universe in anger.  
  
*****************************************************  
  
Several light-years away, a being turned from the cosmic event he was witnessing. He could have sworn that he had heard something. But no, he thought, that would be impossible. Sound did not carry in the vacuum of space.  
  
Sheathed in a pale yellow aura, Thanos6 returned to his observation of the celestial event taking place before him. He hovered a mere mile away from a cosmic occurrence most scientists would kill to witness.  
  
The collapse of a White Hole.  
  
White Holes are cosmic phenomena similar to Black Holes in the sense that they are formed when a star dies. Black Holes become very dense gravity wells that pull objects into them with grip so strong that energy can't escape it's pull. It was like a tunnel where both ends met in the center, a dense pit of blackness that latched onto you and never let go.  
  
A White Hole, by contrast, was a much more mysterious phenomena. It was created by a star dying, but instead of collapsing, it somehow became a generator for vast amounts of cosmic energy, a hole in space and time that tapped into a source of power that defied description. The Avenger known as Binary had once tapped into an infinitesimal part of a White Hole and had become an incredibly powerful being.  
  
This White Hole in particular, though, was dying, collapsing inwards and ceasing to be. However, in its death throes, it was generating much more energy than normal, so much so that Thanos6's quantum aura was barely keeping the powerful energy at bay, even at this distance. Lances of cosmic energy leapt from the White Hole at varying times, destructive bolts of pure unbridled power cosmic. Thanos6 watched in mild amusement as the bolts flew past him, their sheer power and majesty evident to him.  
  
"Still," he thought "enough mental musing. I am here for a purpose." And indeed he was. His Quantum Bands were prepped and ready for the task he had set before them. If he was to tap into the energy of a White Hole, if he were to absorb some of it's infinite power into the Quantum Zone, then the Quantum Zone itself would be filled with White Hole energy, thus giving Thanos6 an unlimited amount of power at his command. With such power, conquering the entire universe would take no longer than a few months, or perhaps a year after some careful planning.  
  
All he had to do was reach out and-  
  
A specific golden orb located on Thanos6's Quantum Bands suddenly began to flash. He recognized it immediately as the gem he had programmed to receive distress signals from space ships. A quick scan of the area revealed that there was indeed a ship no less than 310,527.057 miles away. Thanos turned in the direction of the ship and used his Quantum Bands to augment the light in the area with Tachyon energy, increasing the speed of the light so much that it got back to him before it left. It images it brought back revealed a Shi'Ar transport ship, likely a scientific exploration vehicle, damaged badly with several crew members being sucked out into the void of space through a large hole that had once been one of the ships wings. Thanos6 deduced that it had been so damaged by one of the energy expulsions from the Hole, and that this group of scientists had likely come here to examine this phenomena and gotten too close.  
  
Thanso6 looked back at the White Hole, and then back at the space craft.  
  
He made only one comment as he Quantum Jumped, leaving his spoken word hanging in the vacuum of space.  
  
"Damnation."  
  
He exited the Quantum Zone, which had transported him exactly where he wished to be in a fraction of the time, placing him directly outside the ship. With a gesture of one hand, he sheathed all the crewmen and women that had been sucked outside the ship in a Quantum aura, giving them all breathable air and protecting them from the cold and vacuum of space. With a gesture of the other, he sealed up the gigantic hole in the ship, creating a wall to plug the opening, and he made several mental calculations to correctly pressurize the atmosphere inside the ship. He made some of the energy in the Quantum constructs around the crewmen vibrate, producing sound in the form of Thanos6's voice, which made the following statement:  
  
"Be not afraid. I am Thanos6, Protector of the Universe, and you are all under my protection."  
  
Simultaneously, he sent the same message to ship via radio projection, alerting everyone on the ship of his presence. The bands made him aware that there were cheers ringing throughout the ship. The Shi'Ar cried out in joy at the news of Thanos6's arrival. Thanos6 had been careful to keep his attempts at universal domination a secret, so as not to interfere with his duties as Protector of this Universe. To the universe at large, Thanos6 was known as a protector of life and good. A true hero.  
  
Which he is. He simply has reasons for wanting to conquer the universe.  
  
Thanos6 quickly transported the Shi'Ar he had rescued back inside the ship, passing them through the Quantum wall in the ship, which allowed the Quantum sheathed Shi'Ar to move through it but kept the vacuum of space at bay. After the last crewman was onboard, Thanos6 himself entered the ship through the wall. A quick electromagnetic scan of the ship revealed it's design to him. All that it required was a moment of concentration for him to rebuild the missing parts of the ship, replacing the damaged and destroyed metal and plastic with Quantum constructs that performed the same functions as their material counterparts. In seconds, the ship was hole again, with a golden wing and wall replacing the one that had been lost.  
  
Thanos6 was pleased with the work he had done. This replacement would last until the ship had returned to the Shi'Ar homeworld and was docked for repair. After that, the constructs would vanish and the crew could begin to fix their vessel. Until then, however, his power would allow the ship to function normally for the time being.  
  
Still, Thanos6 was not entirely happy. He turned in the direction of the White Hole, and tried to sense it via his various abilities. He could not, and this could only mean that the Hole had sealed itself while he had been busy rescuing the crewmen.  
  
Thanos6 sighed to himself, but knew he had made the right decision. Ultimate power could not come at the price of innocent lives.  
  
He turned to the crewmen he had just saved, several of which were unconscious, but being assisted by the crafts medical team.  
  
"Are they all right," Thanos6 inquired to one of the medics.  
  
The Shi'Ar doctor turned from his patient just long enough to nodded before turning back. He placed a breathing apparatus around one of the crewmans head, even as he replied back. "They'll all be just fine, thanks to you. The vacuum did quite a bit of damage to some of their lungs before you arrived, but they should all make a full recovery."  
  
Thanos6 nodded. "I am glad to hear that. I must go discuss business with your Captain, as I will be escorting your ship back to your homeworld. Please excuse me."  
  
As he turned, Thanos heard a female voice behind him say, "Before you go-"  
  
Thanos6 turned around. "Yes?"  
  
Suddenly, Thaos6 found himself embraced by one of the loveliest Shi'Ar women he had ever seen, who was currently planting one doozy of a kiss on his lips. For long seconds they remained locked together, Thanos6 completely taken off guard by this very pleasurable assault. As she broke the kiss and released him, Thanos6 found himself a bit light-headed, but very pleasantly so.  
  
"Thank you for what you did," the young Shi'Ar woman replied with a smile.  
  
Still a bit light headed, Thanos6 nodded his head and replied. "You're...welcome." A pleasant image suddenly formed in Thanos6's mind, one of himself and the woman before him, hand in hand, gazing into each others eyes. "I only did what anyone would do in that position," Thanos6 said, after he remembered how to speak again.  
  
"I don't know about that," the woman replied. "Many beings with your power would have just turned away to fulfill their own desires and not worry for an instant about the needs of others. You are a very kind and caring soul."  
  
Thanos6 was grateful his body lacked the capability to blush. "You are too kind, Miss-?"  
  
"Meranto. Mrs. Lalia Meranto, actually. And I'm sorry if I was a bit rash just now, but I couldn't let the man who had just saved my husbands life go away without thanking you properly."  
  
The mental image in Thanos6's mind abruptly shattered into a million pieces.  
  
However, he didn't lose his composure. "Well, as I have been duly thanked when no thanks was necessary, I will leave you to your work. Good day."  
  
With that, he turned around and walked towards the command deck to speak with the Captain of the ship, his cool exterior hiding the sheathing anger building up within him.  
  
"My chance at infinite power gone and yet another slap in the face by fate about my non-existent love life," he muttered inwardly to himself. "Sometimes I believe I am on the receiving end of the single largest collection of bad karma in the multiverse."  
  
**************************************************  
  
With a blinding flash of white light, reality itself was cleaved as if by some colossal blade, a tear in the fabric of what it forming. And in that brief instant, a being not of that universe entered this new plane of existence.  
  
Corporeal existence was abruptly forced onto Ares again, the weary warrior entering this universe that was not his own. Unfortunately, he had materialized twenty some odd feet above the ground, though he didn't realize it until he actually smacked into the ground.  
  
Ares shook his head as he lifted himself up off of the ground, settled into a kneeling position and breathed in deeply. He came to two realizations: 1) he was corporeal again and b) all the places that had hurt before he entered the dimensional rift hurt worse now. However, he noted, his eyes didn't burn so badly anymore.  
  
He opened them and looked down at his hands, and was confused. His gloves were red. Yet, somehow, he knew his loose cuffed gloves that came down almost to his elbow were suppose to be white. He looked down at the rest of his outfit, and saw a similar phenomena. The sleeveless/skirtless kung fu gi that he wore was red instead of green, as was the spandex body suit that he wore underneath it that left only his head uncovered, which was suppose to be black. His white belt with it's golden buckle, the white boots that went with his gloves were red as well. His cape was red, but it was suppose to be. He then looked at his surroundings and saw that the forested landscape around him was red as well, of varying shades and intensities. Ares wondered for a moment if his vision had been permanently damaged by the flash of light that had blinded him.  
  
Ares blinked.  
  
"So THAT'S why my eyes hurt," he said as he smacked himself in the head. He remembered that someone had used the Taiyoken technique while he had been a mere two feet from that person and staring right at him/her. No wonder his eyes had burned so much. Still, that was as far back as his memory went.  
  
He was about to try and remember further when his senses fully readjusted to the material universe again, feeding him information of the world he was on. His eyes widened in horror as he turned to look in the direction of a massive power he was detecting. His mouth slackened as he witnessed something as awe inspiring as it was terrible.  
  
Several miles away, above a large technological city, a crimson meteorite roughly the size of a moon was slowly moving towards the planet, like a scarlet harbinger of death. The red light the huge asteroid gave off made everything for miles around appear to be red.  
  
That explained one thing, Ares thought to himself. But it didn't explain how this had happened, or why it was that this huge space rock was moving so slow. It was like it was deliberately taking it's time as it came to destroy the planet, which it would if it hit the planets surface. Ares could feel the pent up power within it, and knew that if it hit this planet, all life on this sphere would end.  
  
"Not if I have anything to say about it," Ares said to himself.  
  
His pain was pushed to a far corner of his mind as he powered up, calling upon the energies that lay within him. In a flash, he was surrounded in a crimson aura, a blazing field of energy that writhed around him like a living thing. The Kaio energy that was mingled with his own ki flared around him, the power that was his birthright, the power that was almost without limit.  
  
Normally anyway. His power wasn't near his peak, but he still had to do something. Billions of men, women and children would die if that thing hit the ground, starting with the people in that large city directly underneath the meteor. Without a moments hesitation, Ares shot towards the meteor at supersonic speeds. Maybe he wouldn't be strong enough to avert this disaster, but he sure as hell was going to try.  
  
In less than a second, Ares had interposed himself between the giant meteor above him and the large city beneath him. He hovered several miles above the city, while the giant meteor was about two or three miles above him, but getting closer by the second.  
  
Ares didn't have much time. He had to push this thing out of this planets atmosphere before he destroyed it, otherwise the explosion and debris it would create would endanger the people below. He needed a powerful technique that could be used as a force bolt, to physically shove this thing past orbit. A technique that wouldn't drain too much power from his weakened body.  
  
He smiled as the technique that fit his need formed in his mind. He cupped his hands together, like he was holding a ball in his hands. The then twisted his body, to like he was holding that ball near his right hip, as he slowly began to chant.  
  
"KA.....ME......."  
  
The meteor somehow seemed to speed up, like it was self-aware, and that it sensed what he was trying to do. Ares ignored it as he continued to chant.  
  
"HA.....ME......."  
  
A blue orb of energy formed in Ares hand as he continued to funnel his power into them, manipulating his ki, the sum total of his mental, physical and spiritual power. He focused, manipulating it with unequalled skill. And when all was as it should be, Ares roared out the final part of the vocal incantation that helped focus his power.  
  
"HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
Ares hands shot forward, blue energy surging from him, his entire body blazing like a blue sun. A single beam of power shot forward at the speed of light, a bolt of ki possessing tremendous power that struck the huge asteroid with mountain shattering force, though not a single pebble was chipped off of the giant meteor. Instead, it's decent to the planet was stopped dead in it's tracks. Ares had perfectly counteracted the momentum of the planetoid with a carefully and continuously fired bolt of ki.  
  
Now came the hard part.  
  
"NGH," Ares grunted as he pushed harder, sending out even more ki from him, making the aura about him burn brighter and more powerful, lighting up the night sky as the beam grew thicker and more defined. And slowly, so very slowly, the planetoid that loomed in the air like a vulture was sent backwards.  
  
Below him, people pointed up in amazement as the saw what appeared to be a blue comet contesting against the large meteor. A smile spread over Ares' face as he heard them cheer as they saw the meteor being pushed backwards.  
  
But Ares face fell as something unbelievable happened. The meteor began to fight BACK! It moved forward, pushing against Ares' ki blast. Ares was momentarily dumbfounded. This was more than an meteor. This was like some cosmic phenomena with a mad on for humanity. Well, mad on or not, there was no way he was going to let it win.  
  
"UNNN!" Ares gritted as he pumped even more power into his attack, hoping to push it back further, quickly before it had a chance to react. Still, however, did the meteor push back, and Ares found himself deadlocked in some perverse cosmic tug of war game. Still, no matter how hard he pushed, the blasted asteroid pushed back just as hard. He was quickly reaching the limits of his limited power levels.  
  
It was time to pull out his secret weapon.  
  
"KAIOKEN," he cried out "Times TE-ACK!!!"  
  
In mid sentence, Ares felt his insides contract painfully and a red mist sprayed out as he violently coughed up blood.  
  
For a second, his concentration wavered and he nearly lost his focus on the Kamehameha beam. Before the meteor could advance and further, though, Ares regained control and focused, renewing his assault on the giant rock.  
  
It was no good. His body was too weak to use the Kaioken Technique. While that move did focus his mind, body and soul to generate tremendous ki, the strain it imposed on his physical body was tremendous, especially in his weakened state. The surge of ki to his system was too great, and would have ripped him apart. He would have to make do with the sparse power available to him. Power that was more quickly reaching it's limit, while this demonic piece of rock kept pushing harder.  
  
It was so unfair, he though to himself. The people below didn't deserve this. They didn't deserve to be failed by some guy who barely knew his own name. They needed a hero.  
  
Ares gritted his teeth and pushed harder. Maybe he would die soon. Maybe not. But no matter what, he would not give up. He would either save the people below him or die trying.  
  
And it was at this moment when Ares convictions were at their strongest did it happen. A single speck of white light, no bigger than a snowflake, passed by his head and flew towards the meteor. It caught Ares off guard at first, and he wondered what it was. But then another light flew past him, heading towards the meteor. And another. And another. And then there was a rush as a stream of these tiny points of light flew towards the meteor, engulfing Ares in their warm, soft light. And Ares suddenly felt himself surrounded by all that was good an positive in this world. It was a Life Stream of the planet, and somehow it told Ares that it had been summoned to stop the thing that he fought, an sinister and destructive spell created from long ago called Meto.  
  
Ares smiled. It was so warm. It was like being embraced on all sides by pure goodness. For the first that he could remember, Ares felt at peace.  
  
And together, Ares and the Life Stream PUSHED for all they were worth.  
  
Meto strained against the pair, but it did no good. The Life Stream added to Ares' dwindling might, raising his power level higher, even as it struck again and again against the surface of the asteroid. And before it knew what was happening, the malignant Meto was in orbit, and still moving further away.  
  
This was the opening Ares needed. He begged the Life Stream to hold on for as long as it could on it's own. And, somehow, he knew that it would.  
  
Disengaging his Kamehameha attack, Ares raised both arms above his head and stretched out with his senses. He focused on every living thing on the world, for everything that had life had ki. And he mentally pleaded with all that lived to give him part of their strength to save the world.  
  
It did not take long to reply.  
  
Carried quickly to him by the Life Stream, the ki of the worlds flooded into Ares, filling him to capacity with power. He focused this borrowed power upwards, out of his own body and into the air, forming a gigantic orb of energy fashioned from the ki of this world.  
  
And, with one hand cupped like a pitcher, he named his most powerful technique as he hurled it at Meto with all of his might.  
  
"GENKI-DAMA!!!"  
  
The orb flung through the air like a comet, the Life Stream pushing it faster and faster, feeding it power, making it grow larger with every passing second, so much so that, by the time it reached Meto, it dwarfed the vile rock in size and power.  
  
And when the two met, the sky was filled with a blinding light as the Life of the World erased the Destroyer of Planets.  
  
And cheers rang throughout the city below as the menace that threatened the world was reduced to space dust.  
  
It's mission completed, the Life Steam dispersed, going back to flow within the planet itself, saying a silent thank you to the young man that had fought so bravely beside it. Ares acknowledged it's thanks humbly, and smiled victoriously, even as his power gave out and he began to plummet to the ground.  
  
Ares realized this was it. In his weakened state, he didn't have much of a chance of surviving a several mile fall to the planet. Still, as he fell, he had a peaceful, if tired, look on his face. He had won. This planet was safe. No one had died because of his weakness. He was content to die now, just as long as it meant no one else had to die because of him. He closed his eyes and prepared to embrace eternity.  
  
CLANG!  
  
"Clang," Ares asked himself weakly. Had he landed on a building? But no, it was still way too soon. He could still feel the wind. He was still in the air. Calling on his last reserves of strength, he opened his eyes and saw that he was on the....the wing of some kind of vehicle. A....plane if the info in his head was right. Someone had caught him before he could fall very long. The plane was hovering in mid air, slowly descending to the ground, Ares balanced perfectly on one wing. In a matter of minutes, the plane had safely landed on the plain like outskirts of the large city.  
  
"The pilot must be very good," Ares thought, "to hold the ship so steady. I'll have to remember to thank .....him....or her...when I ...wake........up....."  
  
And with that Ares passed out, even as his mysterious saviors exited the plane, and walked towards him.  
  
And thus the Journey of a Thousand Dimensions began with this single step. 


	3. Chapter Two: The Awakening

"Is he alright?"  
  
Ares barely heard this query about his well being. Consciousness was no longer a constant thing, but a fleeting moment that came and left on a random whim. As things stood, he could barely make out the voice that spoke. He could make out a few things though.  
  
1) The voice was definitely feminine  
  
2) The concern in said voice was real  
  
3) It was very soothing and sweet, and to Ares ears, sounded very nice.  
  
Ares felt two fingers lightly touch his neck. He then heard the owner of the fingers say, "His pulse is here, but it's very weak. We need to get him some help quickly."  
  
The voice was strong, masculine, heroic and self assured. Ares could tell that this was the leader. And he was right about one thing: Ares' pulse was a good indication of his overall health. He imagined he looked terrible, but he also knew that no matter how bad he might have looked, he felt infinitely worse. He felt like God had just used him for toilet paper.  
  
"Well, let's get this guy inta the Lady Luck. Least we ken do after what he just done for the city."  
  
Another voice, very strong, very deep, and bespeaking of many years of life. He to had a commanding presence, but Ares still felt that the other mans voice was the voice of the groups leader. Somehow, he just knew.  
  
He felt himself picked up off the ground, several hands picking him up. It was weird, as one set of hands was very large, and felt .....artificial?  
  
"I'm sorry I cannot help you with him," Ares heard another person say, but perhaps 'say' was not right. It was more like a growl that was stretched out and punctuated to sound like a sentence, but it was easily understandable. What sort of place had he landed in?  
  
"Don't worry about it Red," the female voice said again. "We'll manage."  
  
"Could you all just shut up and get him in the Lady Luck," another voice said. It sounded agitated, angry, and his voice sounded scratchy, like his throat was full of smoke. He smelled like burnt plants. "It's bad enough I gotta drag some Meto-Destroy'n freak in my plane, considering he could blow up half way to the nearest fucking hospital."  
  
"Hey, be nice," still another voice said, or 'purred'. It was another animalistic voice, though this one sounded less like a lion and more like a cat. "He helped save Midgar and maybe the whole planet. The least we can do is get him some medical help."  
  
"Yeah, yeah," the angry voice said again. "Ya fucking doll."  
  
"Does he have an Materia on him," a younger female voice asked.  
  
"YUFFIE," the entire assembled group yelled, all of them clearly angered by the girls question.  
  
"What?!" the girl replied indignantly.  
  
Somehow, even though he had just heard her voice, Ares felt an urge to reach up and smack that girl upside the head.  
  
Ares could feel his consciousness slipping from him as the group continued to carry him, until the all stopped suddenly. Ares tried to open his eyes, but couldn't. He was too weak. Instead, he stretched out with his other senses and tried to feel what was happening. The Life Stream was flowing again, and had come to the surface of the planet once more, and washed over the entire world in a cleansing light that made Ares feel a little better, though he still felt the darkness of unconsciousness washing over him.  
  
However, after the Life Stream left the area, it had left something in it's wake a few feet from the group.  
  
Or rather, someone.  
  
Everyone in the group gasped, even the eighth person of the group that had remained silent throughout this entire time. Ares suddenly felt gravity resume it's death grip on him as the group dropped him, clearly astonished by what they saw. A moment later, the ground painfully reacquainted itself with his back and his head.  
  
And as consciousness and Ares departed ways, he managed to hear the leader say one thing before he passed out completely.  
  
"Aeris ?"  
  
**********************************************************  
  
"What?"  
  
"I asked," Renae repeated, a smile gracing her face" 'Are you busy tonight?' "  
  
Jeff, or Grey as he preferred to be called when he was on duty, looked up from the enormous computer he was working at, which was monitoring various cosmic phenomena that was taking place on various levels of dimensional and extradimensional existence. In the security of his Extraplanar Lab that was located in a sub-space dimension he had discovered, he had been witnessing cosmic phenomena most scientists would be able to even dream of in their wildest imaginations, let alone actually know existed. A White Hole had just opened up somewhere in the Vega Sector of Space. These things were immense, powerful and mysterious cosmic phenomena, even to someone that could maintain 35 different trains of though simultaneously and had built most of his devices by molecular reconstruction of wasteful items and pollution, and who had also been slowly closing the hole in the ozone layer over the last few weeks. Only two other people ever were allowed in here on a semi-regular basis: Stanley, a research scientist Grey had rescued from certain death, who was now acting as his friend, confidant and assistant, and Renae.  
  
"Well," Grey started as he glanced back at the multiple computer screens, then back at Renae "I was planning on doing research for the rest of the evening. After I found that cure for cancer and AIDS, I was planning on leaking the information to other established scientists that will make use of the information and get it out to the public."  
  
Renae raised an eyebrow at this. "You're not concerned that these guys are going to get credit for your work?"  
  
"Not at all. They laid the ground-work for the majority of my research, which I merely took to the next level. By all rights they should come up with the cures, but they work just a little too slow and live far too short. I just give them what they would have come up with if they had my brain power. And I prefer to remain anonymous, you know that."  
  
Renae nodded, her short hair rising and falling with the motion of her head, a simple motion that nonetheless Grey though made her look cute and beautiful all at the same time. As he did every time they were together, he diverted the information he received about her and made several mental copies of it, placing it in several mental storage facilities, as he did with all information he particularly treasured.  
  
"Besides that, I was just observing various cosmic phenomena, like a White Hole and a Blue Nebula. Why?"  
  
"Well," Renae said with a smile "It occurs to me that you, being my boyfriend/lover/soul mate/etc., have an obligation to keep me happy, right?"  
  
"Um, yes?" Grey answered uncertainly. He could figure out how to make a trans-warp drive capable of crossing interstellar distances in seconds (and he had, the Alpha Centauri System was particularly lovely this time of year) and build a pocket sized cold fusion reactor, but Renae and women in general were still something of a mystery to him. Maybe it was genetic fault that men had.  
  
Hmmm, he thought to himself, that might have actual merit. If he could isolate the exact gene that was the root of this problem, he could save both the male and female community years worth of headaches due to that horrible inability to communicate many relationships suffered from.  
  
"Well then," Renae continued "maybe you'd like to know that it's been exactly one week since we've gone out and done anything together like a normal couple. You've either been in here doing research, saving the world from terrorists or we've been busy playing with the orchestra."  
  
Grey nodded. He and Renae were part of a traveling musical group that toured with the musical Cats (Grey had liked it too much to never let it see the light of day again, so he revived it), playing the music while dancers did their part. It was a way for Grey to travel, help others in the general vicinity, be close to Renae and keep his musician skills up to par (not that he ever really needed to worry about them deteriorating). Renae, however, switched between being a dancer and a musician, as she was good in both areas. And, Grey thought to himself as he smiled inwardly, she looked fantastic in tights and the cat make-up.  
  
"Well," Grey said "What do you have in mind?"  
  
"Well," Renae said coyly "let's start with a romantic dinner for two and see where it goes from there."  
  
She turned around and headed for the dimensional doorway that led back to her hotel room. "I'll expect you to come get me in six minutes. I've made the reservations already." And mere inches before she reached the door, she turned around and said "and dress well. I'll be wearing THE dress tonight" she said with wink as she left entered the gate and walked into her own room.  
  
Grey blinked for a second as the information processed through his cosmic intelligence. THE dress? That black, silky, form fitting......  
  
Grey hit several keys in a quick succession, telling the computer to record all information on cosmic phenomena and continue to run through the current experiments. After that, he was making a be-line towards the close in his lab where he kept his best outfits.  
  
"Why merely watch the wonders of the universe," he thought to himself "when you can date one of them and get a much closer up analysis of them?"  
  
**********************************************************  
  
Ted Felton ran up the stairs to his apartment as quickly as he could, mentally cursing himself as he did. The young technician reached his apartment in record time, and fished into his pockets for his keys.  
  
Damn his boss for giving him that extra work load. He had made a specific request three weeks in advance to have the afternoon off so that he could clean the house, make dinner and get everything ready before his wife got home. It was their 1st anniversary, and he wanted everything to be perfect.  
  
But no, his boss had dropped a shit load of work for him to do, and had made it quite clear that it had to be done before he left, or ELSE. Another 5 hours down the drain, and he had only maybe half an hour before his wife got back.  
  
"Shit, Shit, SHIT!," Ted thought to himself as he fumbled with the key and finally managed to unlock the door. He knew it was hopeless, but he had to try something anyway. Anything to try and salvage this day. All he had wanted to do was-  
  
As the door opened to his apartment, Ted's mouth went slack.  
  
The apartment was clean. Spotless even. Like someone had spent all morning and afternoon cleaning it. Ted took a deep breath as he tried to process all the info when he detected the hint of cooking. He walked into the kitchen only to find that there was food being cooked, and it smelled fantastic. He went over and looked into the various pots heating on the oven to find some of his wife's favorite food being cooked.  
  
What was going on? Was his wife hear? Had she done this?  
  
{No} he heard a voice inside his head say, as he felt something wash over his mind. {You did all of this. Your boss let you leave early so that you fix all of this for your wife. You had just enough time to clean the house and get everything ready before she got back.}  
  
"Right," Ted said out loud, as if in a daze. "I did all of this."  
  
Ted shook his head, and looked around the house, even as he wiped his forehead, which was covered in sweat. "Just in time. Well, I'd better go get dressed. Betsy'll be back in a few minutes and I want everything to be perfect."  
  
Even as Ted went to his room to go get changed, an unseen hand reached into the oven an pulled out a bread roll and stuffed it into his unseen mouth. Undetectable psionic being or not, Amnesia still needed to eat regularly.  
  
He exited the apartment, quite content with the days job. By doing this simple act of kindness, he had ensured that this young couple would stay together. Doing so, they would have a daughter that would become the first woman president, as foretold in that vision he had last night.  
  
That and it also got some food in his belly.  
  
As Amnesia walked down the street, he say a young boy run by and grab the purse from an elderly woman. The boy was heading right towards him, which made Amnesia smile an unseen smile.  
  
All it took was a little telekinetic push and the thief's belt came undone and his pants dropped to his ankles, bringing the kids jaw into a quick contact with pavement. This stunned the kid long enough for the old woman to walk over to him, grab her purse back and them proceed to beat the kid over the head with it.  
  
Amnesia smiled to himself as he walked away, wondering what else he could do today.  
  
**********************************************************  
  
Mike had a bad feeling. And when you were a security guard for a museum, that was the worst kind of feeling you could have. It wasn't like he was alone, guarding the door that led the museums prize exhibit, a golden jewel encrusted spider wand used for certain African ceremonies. It wasn't like there was dozens of people that wouldn't kill to have it.  
  
Mike took a deep breath. He had to calm down. After all, this was his 10th year working security for this place, and it had never been broken into before. Comic books and movies aside, museum robberies were not common at all. It was an extremely rare occurrence, so Mike really didn't know what he was worrying about.  
  
Mike turned to continue his rounds, still preoccupied by his thoughts. He never noticed the thin young woman drop from the ceiling to the ground, so softly that there was no sound when she landed. She tread so softly that Mike was completely oblivious to her presence.  
  
He became excruciatingly aware of her presence when she snuck up behind him and brought her foot up between his legs to hit a very tender area of Mike's anatomy.  
  
Mike made several faces that would have been very funny had the situation been different. Had any other guy been present, he would have cringed visibly at this sight. Mike definitely was hurting.  
  
The woman in black sighed and bonked Mike on the top of his head with the back of her hand, sending the poor dope to slumberland.  
  
"Pathetic," she muttered to herself as turned away from the fallen guard. Rent-A-Cops weren't half as fun as real police officers. She made her way the room containing the object she had come for. There, in a display so stereotypical that it turned her stomach, the Spider Wand of Shimballa stood in a clear Plexiglas case, atop a small pedestal. Arachne sighed to herself and focused her vision on the area leading to the pedestal, not surprised to find a interweaving web of lasers invisible to the naked eye, or the normal eye anyway. Break one of those lasers, and a platoon of armed security guards and police officers would arrive in seconds to apprehend her.  
  
A small grin crossed Arachne's face as she leapt forward. With inhuman grace that made her appear to be more a dancer than a thief, she whirled through the air, flipping in mid leap, twisting and turning in such a way that she never broke a single laser line as she gracefully landed right in front of the display case.  
  
She placed one dainty finger on the display case, and sent a mental command to her hand, causing thousands of tiny claws to extend from her finger. Usually, she used these to cling to surfaces, but with a little effort, they made fantastic cutting weapons. She traced a perfect circle in the glass with her finger, and then made sure to catch the glass disk that she had cut from the case before it hit the ground. She then simply reached inside and took the wand out.  
  
"Well, nice to see I haven't lost my touch," she said to herself as she violently tore the glass display case off and chucked it into the laser web, activating alarms that blared throughout the entire complex.  
  
Within seconds, armed security guards raced into the room to find Arachne sitting on the display pedestal, one leg crossed over the other, the wand gripped in one hand.  
  
"About time you guys got here," she said out loud as she licked her lips.  
  
In another minute, a group of policemen arrived. It didn't matter.  
  
Five minutes after she had activated the alarms, Arachne casually strolled out the front of the museum, tossing the wand up into the air and then catching it again. Inside the museum, over thirty police and security officers lay unconscious, some of them due for a stay in the hospital.  
  
As she wandered into the night, Arachne wondered two things:  
  
Would this be enough to purchase her brothers freedom?  
  
And  
  
When did the policemen and security guards become such wimps?  
  
**********************************************************  
  
In orbit around the planet Earth, Overmarvel lashed out with twin energy blasts at his opponent, sun fueled photonic energy splashing against the axe that his foe had raised to block the attack.  
  
"Armageddon!," he yelled through clenched teeth "your days of wanton murder and destruction ends HERE!"  
  
To which, Armageddon laughed. Once he had been a living engine of destruction designed by Kreeypton, the ultimate evolutionary weapon devised by a species that was at an evolutionary end. However, it had proved too dangerous and was cast into space, where it had been found by the devourer Galactus, who had chosen to make this abomination his herald. Infused with the power cosmic, and worse, intelligence, Armageddon had become a ravager of worlds, Galactus's finest herald ever.  
  
However, with his masters permission, he had come to Earth to deal with the only Kreeptonian that he felt threatened by: Overmarvel.  
  
Wielding his cosmic axe, Armageddon charged at Overmarvel, energy spewing out of him like he was some cosmic furnace. "You are a FOOL Marv-El! The photonic power you possess is nothing compared to my cosmic might! You cannot possibly defeat me!"  
  
Overmarvel stood ready, a smile spreading across his star covered face. "Perhaps that would be true-"  
  
Suddenly, a war-hammer struck Armageddon across the face, knocking him off course and into one of the many asteroids that hung in Earths orbit.  
  
"-if I had come alone," Marv-El finished.  
  
Armageddon looked up from his rock to see the hammer fly back to the hand of a man clad in red, a long white cape flowing behind him, a large lightning-bolt on his chest.  
  
"Villain, Solomon has told me of the evil you have caused in your time, and I swear by all the elders whom do power me, that Captain Thunder will not allow your rampage to spread further!"  
  
"Nor shall the rest of the Justice Legion of Avengers," came the voice of the Marquise Manhunter, who floated a few feet besides the Captain. And behind these two where the rest of the Legion, Earths Mightiest Heroes. Those with the capacity to survive in space flew out alongside their comrades, while those that could not remained inside the Quintjet.  
  
Steelman began to analyze energy pattern of Armageddon, while Star Lantern primed his emerald quantum bands for battle. Arthur the Submariner readied his atlantean muscles, the device around his mouth allowing him to breath in space, even as Gammazon, the Thymescrian goddess powered by gamma- radiation readied her lasso. Back in the ship, the American Knight ran several plans through his mind, wonder how best to implement his Armageddon protocols. Conner Hawkeye, the teams archer, and Mercury, the teams speedster, wished that they were more effective in outer space battles. Zatanna, the Scarlet Witch and Mercury's sister, tried to manipulate the mystic fields around Armageddon to give the Legion a better chance. And back on Earth, in the mansion the team called home, the other Legionnaires prepared to board their own ship to aid their teammates.  
  
Overmarvel flew to the head of the team, standing before the mightiest collection of heroes ever assembled on his world.  
  
"Today is the end of your violence Armageddon. There has come a time for JUSTICE!" With that, the Legion surged forward, the Manhunter leading off with a psionic attack that had Armageddon clutching his head in pain.  
  
"No matter how powerful you may be physically, your mind will ever be your downfall," he said as he followed up his mental assault with a Martian powered right hook. The rest of the team began to pile on as well, trying to overwhelm Armageddon with the sheer force of their attack.  
  
Overmarvel had begun to join the attack, when he stopped for a moment. His heightened cosmic senses detected something. His Cosmic Awareness seemed disturbed. Something was wrong, but the feeling was vague, like the wrongness was either far away or hadn't happened yet. It was some sort of premonition of the future that he sometimes got.  
  
And from the feeling, something bad was going to happen soon.  
  
Overmarvel spun his head around as he felt Armageddon power surge and throw the other Legionnaires off of him. Was he the disturbance? No, as a quick cosmic scan proved, but he was still a threat. Overmarvel could spare no time to think on these cosmic predictions, he had the present to worry about.  
  
He charged forward, photonic energy blazing around him, determined to end this madman's quest for violence once and for all.  
  
********************************************************  
  
Ares was running down a tunnel, a radiating cavern of color and light. However, occasionally, images would form on those walls, images of friends long forgotten, of faces that he no longer recognized. He tried to make sense of the images swirling around the tunnel, but couldn't.  
  
Then, at the end of the tunnel, he saw the silhouette of someone. He tried to make out who it was, but he couldn't quite make it out. But something about it ...scared him.  
  
Ares stopped dead in his tracks, horror flooding through his entire being as the dark person at the hallways end lifted a hand to point it at him.  
  
"NOOOOOOOOO!!!" Ares screamed as black light leapt from the beings hand and ripped him to a thousand pieces.  
  
**********************************************************  
  
Ares sat up in his bed, sweat beading across his face. His breath came out in shallow gulps as he tried to process what he had just seen.  
  
"What....what was that?" he thought to himself as he pushed the sweat off of his face.  
  
"So," he heard someone say "you're awake." 


	4. Chapter Three: The First Encounter

"Pitiful gnat," the one hundred foot tall demonic looking behemoth yelled as he swatted the colorfully clad superhuman away with one huge meaty fist. "Did you really think the likes of you could deter the awesome majesty that is Idolon!"  
  
"That was the general idea, yeah," Stormhawk said to himself as he smashed into an office building, sending glass shards and desks fling in every direction. Luckily, the building had been evacuated when the ten ton terror from space had beamed down to announce his plans for turning the world into a resource mine for his homeworld and make humans his genetic super-slaves.  
  
Stormhawk sat up and brushed the debris that had collected on him off. He this fight had been going on for the better part of half an hour and the fatigue was starting to set in on him. The Idolon didn't seemed to be slowing down at all though. The thing was vaguely humanoid, but had red scales across its entire body, and a large gaping mouth lined with the sharpest teeth 'Hawk had ever seen. Worse, all of the super teams like the Sentinels of Justice or the Champions were dealing with their own menaces, so he was effectively on his own.  
  
"Figures," he muttered to himself as his skin began to crackle as electricity coursed through his entire body, tiny arcs of blue lightning traveling across his costumed figure. With that, he flew out of the building to charge right back at the large monstrosity, leaving a trail of static electricity in his wake that shimmered in the air for a few seconds before dissipating.  
  
The power that coursed through and around his body collected into his arms and he unleashed its fury at his opponent in the shape of two arcing bolts of lighting that leapt from his hands.  
  
As the bolts struck the crimson giant, Idolon bellowed in anger. "You return to strike at me again? Are you insane, you puny insect?!"  
  
"I wouldn't be surprised if I was. I mean, look at how I dress and what I do in my free time," Stormhawk quipped as he continued his assault.  
  
"Foolish piece of flesh, you assault a god! How can you hope to beat me when I grow stronger with every second?" He ended his statement with two searing bolts of heat that shot from his eyes.  
  
"You know, I was wondering what that smell was," 'Hawk said as he flew straight up to avoid the yellow energy bolts, while continuing his assault on Idolon. He continued to fly rings around his overgrown adversary, unrelenting in his electronic attack. The Idolon lashed out with hands the size of one-room apartments, but Stormhawk would dodge out of the way at the last second, moving like the very lightning he unleashed on his enemy.  
  
"Enough of this foolishness," the Idolon muttered as his yellow, pupilless eyes suddenly glowed bright green.  
  
"I assume your ready to surrender then," Stormhawk asked, his smiling visage hidden beneath his mask.  
  
His smile died as his eyes widened to the coldness that washed over his mind. Like some malignant tumor, Stormhawk could feel the Idolon's mind reach out to his, taking a firm hold on it and squeezing it like a vice.  
  
Gritting his teeth, both hands clutching his head, Stormhawk strained himself against the evil influence he felt trying to crush his intelligence.  
  
The Idolon was suitably impressed by the resistance this little man was putting up against his Level One Psi-Strike. So, rather than upgrade the power to Level Two, he simply clapped his hands together, with Stormhawk falling between the large palms.  
  
Under his mask, Stormhawk tried to make sense of the world that had suddenly become a massive display of colored light and a sharp pain that seemed to have integrated itself into every fiber of his being.  
  
"You have fought long and hard little insect," the Idolon said, a hint of admiration getting through his brusque voice. "But the fight ends now in the only way it could have ended!"  
  
With that, Idolon began to apply pressure, Stormhawk suddenly feeling like a marshmallow in a nutcracker. He knew all he needed was one second to turn this fight around, one second of clarity to break free, but as it was now, it didn't look like he was going to get it. It truly looked like the end.  
  
Until, abruptly, the pressure was relaxed and Stormhawk found himself in the sky again. He quickly reasserted his power of flight to keep from falling, just in time to see the Idolon go flying backwards, smashing into and through roughly two and a half skyscrapers.  
  
"Not so nice to be on the receiving end of a super-strength attack, is it big fella," Stormhawk heard a voice he recognized say loudly. He breathed a sigh of relief as he looked up to see a tall young man with blonde hair and eyes hidden behind a pair of black sunglasses floating in the space that Idolon's head had been occupying a few seconds ago. In stark contrast to Stormhawk's colorful costume, the flying superman wore a normal outfit consisting of blue jeans, a solid black sleeveless T-shirt, tennis shoes and black fingerless gloves. The figure turned to grin at electric airborne superhero. "How's it going, Stormhawk?"  
  
"Better now, Stargazer," Stormhawk said, relieved that some kind of backup had finally gotten here.  
  
As if sensing his thoughts, Jonathan Stargazer smiled apologetically. "Sorry I couldn't get here sooner, but there was an attack on the UN building going on that I had to put a stop to. At least I got here in time, right?"  
  
"Well, I'm grateful for your help pal," Stormhawk said as he massaged his left shoulder. He looked to see where Idolon had landed and winced a bit inwardly. "I'd be even more grateful if you had gauged the power of that punch a little better."  
  
Stargazer looked again at where the force of his punch had sent the Idolon flying. To his horror and embarrassment, Idolon has fallen against and smashed through several buildings and knocked at least two skyscrapers down. A quick scan with his super senses revealed to Stargazer that no one had been in the buildings, which made him sigh in relieve, but the actual damage done to the surrounding buildings was devastating.  
  
"Aw man," Stargazer said as he slapped the side of his head with his hand. "I HATE it when that happens. It's just that he was so big and he was crushing you and I was sure I had to hit him pretty hard to get him to let you go and why is this forever happening when I try to 'save the day'?" John finished his sentence looking towards the sky, as if begging God for some kind of reply. John was always trying to be an example for other heroes and live up to the heroic ideal, but how was he going to ever be a 'true hero' if he kept screwing up like this?  
  
"Don't worry about it too much buddy," Stormhawk said as he put a reassuring hand on Stargazers shoulder. The two of them had worked together on so many cases that they both considered each other a friend, even spending time in their off hours together. He knew how his friend got when he made errors like that. "If you just help me fix all the damage when we're done, I'm sure no one will ever give it a second thought."  
  
"You think so," John asked, a raised eyebrow peaking out over the edge of his sunglasses.  
  
"I know so," Stormhawk said in tone so reassuring Johnny had to believe him.  
  
"Alright then," Johnny said, regaining his composure. "Well, it looks like tall, red and gruesome is getting back up. What's say we show him that we Earthlings don't take his brand of extraterrestrial non-sense!"  
  
"Yes. Lets," Stormhawk said as lightning crackled around his hands again.  
  
*********************************************************  
  
On a dark and stormy evening, a bus traveled across a lonely road, a high mountain to it's right, and a incredibly steep cliff-side to it's left. And on this dismal road that seemed to lead to nowhere, Joseph Barton prayed to a God he wasn't sure still existed. He prayed for the souls of his family. He prayed for his own soul, if he still had one. But most of all, he prayed for peace.  
  
That was all he wanted right now.  
  
In a bus that was filled with various people, going to various places across the States, Joseph was trying to maintain something resembling a low profile. He had had his fill of excitement lately. The last few months had been nothing but one misadventure after another. It seemed that no matter where he went, trouble seemed to follow him. And it was never just 'normal' trouble either.  
  
Just once, JUST ONCE, he hoped that if he did run into trouble, it was something normal. If there had to be trouble, which he hoped there wouldn't be, he prayed that it was something akin to a bank robbery or a collapsing bridge, or something. For just one week, Joseph wanted to have nothing to do with alien invasions, demi-gods, underground civilizations and government agencies.  
  
But if there was trouble, and he was almost sure there would be, he knew he would get involved. He had to. The words that Superman himself spoke to him echoed in his mind.  
  
"The abilities you have," the Man of Steel had said "for better or for worse, set you apart from the rest of the world. You can do more than an ordinary person, and as an extra-ordinary person, you have an obligation to help those that can't help themselves. Whatever personal tragedies you've suffered, you can't let them consume the good person that you are, because with your power, you can keep others from suffering like you've suffered.  
  
"The world needs heroes, Triax. It needs people that are willing to help others and do the right thing. Because if we don't, who will.?"  
  
And deep within his soul, in the place that was pure and unmarred by the tragedies he'd suffered, Joseph knew that Superman was right. Hell, he was SUPERMAN.  
  
And if there was a God, and if there was a Hell, then there was a special place deep in the darkest and most foul pit of Hell reserved for people that turned their backs on people in need, and Joseph would be damned if he was one of those people.  
  
So he prayed for no trouble, as he watched the lightning flash in the distance as the rain ran down the glass of his window, only to be carried away by the wind. Carried away like the hopes he ever had for a normal life.  
  
Joseph turned to look at the inhabitants of the bus he was on, each on their own little odyssey. Some were men on a business trip. Some were couples off to their honeymoon. Still others were lovers getting away from there spouses to escape the constraints of married live. And still others were families out on a vacation.  
  
Like little Lana and her family. The little eight year old girl had been sitting with her parents, asking an endless barrage of questions, laughing when she stumped her parents, and cringing slightly whenever a stroke of lightning slashed through the air.  
  
And when Joseph looked at her, his heart broke a little bit, as old scars on his heart that had never really healed over were painfully ripped open. She reminded him so much of his Laura that he wanted to go over to her and take her in his arms and never ever let her go. To promise her that nothing would ever separate him them again. That her father would be there for her always and forever.  
  
And then he mentally cursed both the government agency that had so forcibly ripped him from his family, and himself for allowing them to do so.  
  
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), Joseph's mental berating and loathing was cut short. It started with the faulty passenger side bus tire that blew out unexpectedly, followed by the bus swerving out of control as the driver slamming on the breaks, and ended with a broken guardrail and a bus sent plummeting off the side of a very steep drop.  
  
Joseph wondered why he even bothered praying anymore. At speeds most humans would find unbelievable, Joseph Barton flew out of the bus, doffing his civilian attire as he did and firmly pulling his blue mask over his face. No sense in taking chances, he figured.  
  
He flew underneath the bus, which had twirled in mid air so that it's passenger side was now facing the ground. He put his hands on the bus wall and pressed upwards, only to see his hands tear through the bus wall, carry him through to the other side of the bus.  
  
"You MORON," he though to himself as he quickly realized his mistake. You couldn't just suddenly stop an object like that. The buses downward motion and his upward motion had pushed him up through the bus like bullet.  
  
In a flash, he was alongside the bus again, along what was suppose to be the bottom of the bus. He gripped the center axle of the bus and pushed, rotating the bus in the air so that it's bottom was once again facing down. Now, still clutching the axle, he slowly killed the momentum the bus had accumulated by gently pressing upwards, enough only to slow the bus. The bus shook violently in his grip as he did so, the winds that were pushing against the bust not helping either, but he soon had it to where could finally exert himself and bring the bus to a full stop, though he had to jar it somewhat roughly to do so.  
  
And that sharp stop shook the helpless passengers inside, causing one of them to fall out one of the new holes in the wall. Triax watched in horror as little Lana began to plummet to her almost certain death.  
  
An image of his own daughter flashed through Triax's mind, and a torrent of guilt exploded through his very being.  
  
"NOT AGAIN," he yelled. "NEVER AGAIN!"  
  
With that, he through the bus in his hands UPWARDS, into the sky, while simultaneously flying down at full speed. In half a second, he was parallel to little Lana, and he slowed himself to match her velocity before he grabbed onto her. Realizing he didn't have time to slowly kill her momentum, Triax merely executed a sharp mid-air turn maneuver, not slowing their momentum but redirecting it in another direction, UP. He checked on Lana and saw that she was alright, just a little scared. He couldn't blame her.  
  
Triax looked up and saw that the bus he had thrown was still going up into the air. Quickly wrapping his cloak around Lana, Triax zoomed upwards to grab the bus by it's axle again, and once again began to slow down it's momentum, though this time gravity lent him a hand. He was relieved to see that no one else had fallen out of the bus. With that, he descended back to the ground and gently set the bus down.  
  
It took a few moments for him to explain what had happened to the passengers as he used his ocular energy blasts and super strength to repair the holes in the walls of the bus. Once they understood his mistake, they were quick to forgive him. He had saved their lives, after all. They were also happy to watch him use his eye beams to dry off the inside of the bus, and all accepted his offer to use his powers to dry them as well. And they were all overjoyed to hear that he would safely bring them all to the nearest auto-shop to get the tire fixed. Little Lana thanked her hero with a kiss on his cheek.  
  
As Triax flew the damaged vehicle through the air, he carefully removed one hand from the bus, and after seeing that he could maintain balance of the bus with only one arm and his back, he used that hand to rub place where Lana had kissed him.  
  
And beneath his mask, Joseph Barton smiled softly, even as the rain broke to reveal a beautiful day.  
  
And he reminded himself mentally to pray more often.  
  
******************************************************  
  
It was official.  
  
Brian Miller was officially bored out of his skull. Which wasn't normally a bad thing, except that it was Saturday morning. With music blaring in the background, he flipped the channels and tried to watch something at could pass for entertainment, but it was like anything even approaching the concept of fun had been sucked out of his little TV.  
  
He rolled his eyes, and tried to think of something, anything to do, but it was just one of those extremely shitty days that could do no right.  
  
"Crap ina hat," he muttered to himself. What's a disillusioned Gen-Xer suppose to do in a situation like this?  
  
He wracked his normally quite intelligent brain for some inkling of an idea that might produce some miniscule amount of enjoyment, but nothing came to him. Finally, out of options, he had no choice but dreaded social interaction with other disillusioned Gen-Xers,  
  
He picked up the phone and quickly dialed the only guy that really qualified as his friend.  
  
A few blocks away, Steve Gutenbury, AKA the amazing, astonishing and pretty darn impressive Non-Existant Man heard the phone ring. Deciding that it would be less aggravating to pick up the phone and see who was call than to let it ring until his answering machine got to it, he paused his game of Tony Hawkes Pro skater and picked up the phone.  
  
"Yo," the existing Non-Existant Man said.  
  
"So what's up Steve," Brian Miller asked.  
  
Non Existant Man shrugged, then realized Brian couldn't see him. "Playin a game, havin a Bud."  
  
"True, true," came the response.  
  
Then, out of nowhere, Steve shouted, "WAZZZZZAAAAAP!!"  
  
"WASSSSSUUUUUP!!," Brian yelled back.  
  
Steve leaned over his shoulder. "Yo, Plunket," he yelled at the top of his lungs "pick up the phone!"  
  
In another section of the rather large apartment, Non-Existant Man's sidekick Pluket dug himself out from underneath a pile of pizza boxes and grabbed the spare portable phone.  
  
"Hello," he asked weakly.  
  
"WAZZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAP," Steve yelled.  
  
A huge smirk appearing on his face, Plunket yelled back, "WUUUZZZZZZZZZZZAP!"  
  
"WASSSSSSSUUUUUUUUUUUUP!"  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAP!"  
  
"ZZZZZZZZZZZZAP!"  
  
A brilliant idea forming in his mind, Brian quickly asked a question, "Hey, where's Boi?"  
  
A phone rang in another part of town, and a black man with zero hair on his head picked it up.  
  
"Hello?" he muttered weakly, not believing someone was actually awake before noon on a Saturday.  
  
"WAZZZZZZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAAP," blared loudly in his ear, Dat Boi recognized the voice as Steve.  
  
"Non-Existant Man, Brian, you both do realize this is the most over used and stupid thing ever shown on TV, right," Dat Boi asked dryly.  
  
"WASSSSSS-huh" Brian Miller asked, the mood broken.  
  
"Aw man, why'd you have to go and pull that shit," Steve asked annoyed. "We were just getting into the mood."  
  
"Look, I don't EVEN want to know about the moods you get into, NEM," Boi replied.  
  
"Yeah, well, at least it got you up," Miller said.  
  
"I still can't believe you fools expect a guy that works so hard at night like I do ta be awake before 10 a-frickin-m on a frickin Saturday," Dat Boi said as he rolled his eyes again.  
  
"Well, look on the bright side," Miller said with an evil grin "I could have woken you up with a telepathic blast."  
  
"Yeah, and I would have molecularly re-a-frickin-ranged your ass for a stunt like that," Boi replied.  
  
"Hey, why don't you threaten Steve? He's the one that actually called you."  
  
"Cause he's got more dumb luck than frickin Long Shot. I'd likely end up giving him a bigger dick or something equally beneficial."  
  
"Hey man, don't mess with Non-Existant Man Junior, the women like him the way he is," Steve said. "Besides, if he got any bigger, I'd have to start getting those non-rip purple pants the Hulk wears."  
  
"WUZZZZZZZZZZZAPP!!," Plunket yelled over the phone.  
  
"Hey, Plunket," Brian said "we stopped doing that! It's not funny anymore."  
  
"Oh," Plunket said sadly as he promptly shut up.  
  
"Listen," Dat Boi said, "since you gentlemen have kindly woken me up and I won't likely be able to get back to sleep, yall wanta get together and maybe actually DO something besides dick around on the phone?"  
  
"Sounds good to me," Brian said.  
  
"I'm so totally with that man," Steve said.  
  
"Cool. Be here in half an hour and I'll take it from there," Dat Boi said as he promptly hung up the phone and groaned that it was going to be one of those days.  
  
"Hey, how come we always have to go over to his place," Non-Existant Man asked.  
  
"Cause he's the only one with a decent car to pick up chicks in and he makes his own money out of garbage and other stuff," Miller replied matter- of-factly.  
  
"I gotcha," Steve said with a nod and a wink, and then remembered again that Miller couldn't see him.  
  
"So," Miller asked again "What's up Steve?"  
  
"Nothin much. Playin a game, havin a bud."  
  
"True. True."  
  
******************************************************  
  
"So," Ares heard someone say "you're awake."  
  
Ares, freshly awakened from a horrid nightmare, only to discover himself both in a comfortable bed and not alone in the room he occupied. He turned to see a middle-aged man with short hair so blonde it was almost white sitting in a chair several feet away. The man looked like a pilot, as he sported a pair of aviator goggles around his head and a white scarf draped around his neck along with a deep blue flight jacket, brown gloves and equally brown work boots. He had cigarette in his mouth, a cup of something (tea?) in his hand and from the stubble along the lower half of his face, hadn't shaved in a day or two.  
  
Ares looked about the room as well, seeing that it was quite large and lavish, like the quarters a king might sleep in, if that king lived in the 20th century. The bed he was sleeping in was equally large and impressive, and very comfortable.  
  
"Well, it's about time," the man said in a gruff voice that drew Ares' attention back to the man. Ares recognized the voice as the same voice that complained about having to carry him into something called the Lady Luck. "Ya been out for quite a while, Junior."  
  
Ares looked at the man, a bit confused. "I'm..sorry?"  
  
The man rolled his eyes. "Out. Asleep. Unconscious. Napping. Ya do speak English, right?"  
  
Ares nodded. "Yes sir, I do. That wasn't what I meant. What I meant was, I'm sorry I caused you so much trouble. You know, making you load a 'Meto- Destroy'n Freak' into your 'plane.' I didn't mean to put your through any trouble or worry you."  
  
The man's eyes widened a bit, a looked of dumbfoundment crossing his features. Then, he broke the silence with a long laugh that made Ares raise an eyebrow in confusion.  
  
"Hehe," the man said as he dried his eyes with one gloved finger. "Didn't mean ta startle ya, kid. It's just that I didn't thick ya had actually heard that. If I had known you were conscious, I probably would have picked my words a little better. What with you being able to blow up Meto and all that."  
  
"Well," Ares started to say, but the man cut him off.  
  
"Besides, the way I see it, I should be thanking you. You did help save our whole fucking planet three weeks ago. So, Thanks," the man said, pausing for a few seconds, then continuing "I don't believe I caught your name. Mines Cid Highwind"  
  
Ares smiled. "I'm Ares."  
  
Cid snickered. "Ares? Now isn't that fucking weird."  
  
"What is," Ares asked, a little confused.  
  
"Nothing really, just that I've got a friend named is Aeris. Aeris Gainsborough. I just thought it was a weird coincidence."  
  
"No kidding," Ares agreed.  
  
"So," Cid continued "That your first name or ya last name?"  
  
Ares thought about it for a moment. "My first, I think."  
  
"Ya mean ya don't know," Cid asked, a bit baffled.  
  
"Yeah," Ares said, a look of genuine frustration washing over his face. "It's on the top of a very long list of things I don't know or can't remember. I'm not entirely clear on how I got here."  
  
"To Midgar?," Cid asked. "We brought you here after-"  
  
"No," Ares said. "To this dimension."  
  
The cigarette dropped from Cid's slack-jawed mouth. "Come again?"  
  
"I know this is going to sound weird," Ares said admittedly "but I think I come from a universe or dimension parallel to yours."  
  
Cid scratched his head as he raised an eyebrow. "Jesus. You mean ya come from one of those alternate realities that exist just on the other side of some dimensional?"  
  
Ares' eyes widened. "Yes, that's it exactly! How did you-,"  
  
"Well, first off," Cid said with a little pride "I'm a scientist. I specialize in aerodynamics, space-ship design, thruster/propulsion and physics, but I spent enough time with other big brains to know some of their wilder theories. One of the big ones was that our universe is nothing but a single version of an infinite number of other universes, all separated by some dimensional barrier. And you say you come from one of these other dimensions?"  
  
Ares nodded.  
  
"Fan-fucking-tastic," Cid said, a huge grin appearing on his face. "That would explain the weird clothing and those weird powers ya got. Is everyone that powerful back on your world?"  
  
"I'm not sure," Ares said with a shrug. "My clearest memory is materializing on your world after I exited some weird dimensional space. I arrived a few seconds before Meto got ready to hit. Everything before exiting the rift is kind of fuzzy. I remember being in some kind of fight, I remember getting knocked into some machine that was a Tra..Trans.. Trans- dimensional Displacement Unit."  
  
Cid raised an eyebrow. "A Trans-dimensional Displacement Unit? Apparently it lived up to it's name. Hard to believe you come from a world that can develop that kind of technology."  
  
"I'm not sure, but I think it was a one-of-a-kind items," Ares said. "Beyond what I've told you, I can't remember a thing about my past at all. I've got lots of information stored in my head, like book knowledge and fighting styles, but no memories of who I am or why I was there."  
  
"Shit," Cid said as he shook his head. "You sound like Cloud."  
  
Ares raised an eyebrow. "Cloud?"  
  
"Our groups leader, and a friend of mine. He had some memory problems similar to yours, but not half as severe, from what I can tell. He had some false memories, and had blotted some other ones out, but still retained most of his past. Maybe the two of you should talk."  
  
"Not a bad idea," Ares said. He looked down at the blankets that covered him and noticed something. "Say, you mentioned my 'weird clothing' a while back, right?"  
  
Cid nodded, grinning as he anticipated the young man's question.  
  
"Well," Ares said "Maybe you could tell me where they are?"  
  
Ares saw that he was stark naked underneath the covers of the extremely nice bed he was in.  
  
Cid chuckled a bit. "Well, the outfit you were wearing was pretty badly torn up. The only thing not damaged on it was that white headband you had on. Somehow it was completely unharmed. But anyway, the rest of it needed some major mending, and so did you. You were THIS close to dying when we found you. Aeris had to use a few Cure spells to keep you alive till the doctors-"  
  
"Cure spells," Ares asked in surprise.  
  
"Yeah," Cid continued "a little bit of white magic to keep you alive until- "  
  
"White magic," Ares said, even more surprised. What kind of world had he landed in?  
  
"Ya going deaf on me, kid?"  
  
"No sir."  
  
"Then shut up and let me-"  
  
An alarm within the watch on Cid's wrist went off, which Cid glared at. He promptly shut it off and looked at Ares sympathetically. "Damn. Well kid, sorry, but I've got to go. Other duties and all that crap. Just have some tea, relax and wait for the person taking my place to fill you in on the rest. I'll tell 'em to bring your clothes with them."  
  
Ares started to get up out of the bed, careful to use the blanket to keep his modest intact. "Not just a minute, I-"  
  
"SIT YOUR ASS DOWN AND DRINK YOUR GOD DAMN TEA," Cid said loudly and with authority.  
  
Immediately, Ares sat down, picked a cup of tea up off the table next to the bed and sipped from it. A second after he had done so, a puzzled look came over his face. "Wait a second, how did you-"  
  
Cid laughed. "I don't know, but for some reason, that line ALWAYS works on people, no matter who they are."  
  
Cid shook his head as he walked towards the door. "Don't worry Ares, someone'll be here soon ta take my place. They'll fill ya in on whats happened and what not. Just wait and be patient and they'll be here quick enough."  
  
"Okay," Ares nodded. "It was nice meeting you, Cid."  
  
"You two kid," Cid said with a smile. And with that, he walked out the door, leaving Ares alone.  
  
The silence was deafening.  
  
Ares thought about all he had learned from that little chat with Cid.  
  
Another dimension.  
  
Magic.  
  
Other things came to his mind as well. Like Cid's mentioning that he had stopped Meto about three weeks ago, meaning he had been unconscious all that time. What sort of battle had he been in to damage his body so badly that he needed three weeks to recover? Granted the battle with Meto had been strenuous, but only because some prior battle had weakened him greatly.  
  
Ares was officially unhappy. So many mysteries, all stemming from his faulty memory. If only he-  
  
Ares' ears perked up as he heard machinery, like a coil pulling a heavy metal room up a long tunnel. Ares slapped himself in the forehead and remembered that they were called elevators. So this world had them to. He then heard the sound footsteps coming his way upon exiting the elevator.  
  
The footsteps were light, rhythmic, the weight well distributed, each movement flowing from one step to the next. The sign of a trained fighter. He waited a few seconds and then picked up a heart beat, which he identified as being very strong and steady, like that of an athlete or martial artist. His senses went to work trying to identify whomever it was that was coming. Ares sensed a sort of familiarity, but couldn't quite place it. He shrugged and waited for the person to get to his room.  
  
After a few minutes of walking, the door to Ares room opened, and Ares turned to greet his guest. But the words died in his throat.  
  
"Hello there," a bright, cheerful and very friendly feminine voice said.  
  
Ares could not respond. He suddenly felt like he was an unworthy mortal in the presence of a goddess.  
  
"My names Tifa Lockheart," the beautiful young woman before him said. 


	5. Chapter Four: The World of Fantasy

"HAVE AT THEE," Thor, God of Thunder yelled, his enchanted Uru hammer flying from his outstretched hand, speeding towards it's target at barely sub-sonic speeds.  
  
And behind his visor, Cyke rolled his eyes. It seemed like Thor's entire grasp of tactics seemed to be 'hit the opponent with the hammer until it doesn't get up anymore.'  
  
The winged warrior, clad in golden armor, merely gestured with his hand and out of thin air, a slab of concrete, similar in appearance to one of the Ten Commandment blocks, appeared before him. Cyke quickly grasped the block and held it before him, using it as a shield as the hammer closed the distance between them.  
  
THUD!  
  
Thor's eyes widened in surprise as Cyke moved not at all, his faithful cement block proving that it was indeed, indestructible. Mjlonir bounced off of the rock and arced through the air, flying back towards Thor's hand. Never one to let a tactical advantage slip him by, Cyke lowered Rocky just enough so that he could see Thor and then mentally commanded his visor to open, the visor complying instantly.  
  
Crimson energy lanced forth, flowing from his eyes like a tidal wave of power that slammed into Thor's chest and carried him out of the square combat arena and only to forcefully smash the Odinson into the stadium walls that protected the audience watching the battle. For a second, Thor remained imbedded in the wall, but then gravity reasserted itself and the Son of Odin fell to touch the green Earth beneath him.  
  
And with that, the crowd watching the event roared in thunderous approval, chanting the name 'Cyke! Cyke! Cyke!' over and over, at the tops of their lungs, like they were praying to a god. Cyke calmly smiled and sent Rocky back to his sub-space dimension, even as the announcer that had been witnessing the battle rushed out to combat arena. The humanoid arachnid, clad in a stylish business suit, grasped Cyke's hand in one of it's six arms and lifted it up into the air.  
  
"THE WINNER, AND STILL REIGNING CHAMPION OF SU'PAR HIRO SHO DOA'N, CYKE!" the announcer yelled into his microphone.  
  
Somehow, the crowds managed to scream there approval even louder. Cyke smiled , still unable to get over the utter love the crowds seemed to heap at his feet. After a lifetime of prejudice back home, Su'Par Hiro Sho Doa'n was Heaven.  
  
Of course, Cyke had actually BEEN to Heaven, but that was a different story.  
  
Thor, recovered from the jarring energy blast, stood up and dusted himself off, slightly annoyed that he had lost due to being knocked outside of the ring. Still, he relented, Cyke's beam had so thoroughly dazed him that Cyke could have likely knocked him out with a follow up attack. And it made no difference that he did not like the nature of his defeat. A loss was a loss, it was as simple as that.  
  
Thor stepped back up to the tournament ring and walked over to Cyke. After staring at the winged mutant for a few moments, Thor's stern exterior broke into a smile and he extended Cyke an open hand. Cyke returned the smile and took the hand, shaking it firmly.  
  
"T'was a well fought match, friend Scott," Thor said, naming Cyke by the name he had used long ago. "Thou has come a long way since thy days with the X-Men."  
  
Cyke was unsure how he felt about that statement, but since Thor obviously meant it as a compliment, Cyke merely said, "Um, Thanks Thor."  
  
The crowds in the arena, the final battle of the day done, began to disperse. The ring announcer thanked both Thor and Cyke for such an excellent match and then set off himself.  
  
Cyke turned to his Asgardian college. "So Thor, what'er you're plans now? Join me in a little wine an revelry?"  
  
Thor smiled. "Nay, Friend Scott, for I have business back on Midgar that is in sore need of my attention." Even as he spoke, Thor began to spin his hammer over his head. "If, perchance, I see thy love, Jean Grey, I shall wish her well for you."  
  
"Please do that," Cyke said, keeping a look of happiness on his face until the dimensional vortex summoned by Thor took the Thunder God back to the Marvel Universe that both he and Cyke originally came from. It was only after Thor was gone that Cyke let himself sigh and hang his head slightly as he left the battle dome and began to make his way towards the widely renown SHSD Bar. The bar was conveniently located close to the main battle dome of Su'Par Hiro Sho Doa'n, the one Cyke exited. He strode down the street, the paved path leading off to several other battle domes, but instead Cyke turned towards the city section of Su'Par Hiro Sho Doa'n, towards the bar that proudly bore the sign "Spidey's SHSD Bar".  
  
As Cyke walked in, he saw all manner of creatures and heroes within, all enjoying themselves. He saw at least 5 alternate versions of Hercules hitting on the same Wonder Woman, who was apparently trying to have a drink with Tenshinhan. In another corner of the bar, Lobo and Pitt were getting a bar fight started, while an alternate version of Wolverine lay passed out at his table, apparently drunk on some cosmic alcohol. Thundar and Conan the Barbarians were arm-wrestling, while the Antman and the Wasp were splitting a drink, taking advantage of their small sizes to get drunk on a single shot glass of alcohol. And in yet another corner, there was a apparently a midget convention consisting of Puck, the original Atom, Pip the Troll, Krillin, Frodo, Steve of the Everknights, Tephlon Billy, Cerebus and a few others. Cyke could have sworn he saw that little guy from Fantasy Island, but he wasn't sure.  
  
With another sigh, Cyke walked over to the bar and took his usual seat. The oddly named SpideyBeforeMackie/Byrne walked over to him, polishing a glass, a friendly smile over his face. It was odd that a 15 and a half year old teenager was old enough to run a bar, but in this universe, things didn't always have to make sense.  
  
"How's everything today, Cyke," Spidey asked as he inspected the glass he just cleaned before putting it down on the counter and reaching for several bottles.  
  
"The usual," Cyke said as he placed his arms on the counter and leaned forward.  
  
"That translates into 'I won every match I was in today'," Spidey asked as he began mixing several drinks together into the glass in front of Cyke. Cyke nodded, which made Spidey shake his head ruefully as he tossed a bottle in the air, only to catch it in his other hand, spin it and then pour the contents into the glass before Cyke. "If that's the case, then why do you look like someone ran over your cat?"  
  
"I don't have a cat," Cyke said as he watched his glass fill up.  
  
"That's not the point," Spidey said as he corked the bottle and grabbed another. "The point is you're the champion of Su'par Hiro Sho Doa'n, you're one of the greatest warriors ever, you have a good life here, plenty of friends, more money than you need, plenty of time to do what you want with, overall, a pretty sweet deal. So how come you look like someone just bastardized your continuity?"  
  
Cyke thought about it for a second. "I don't know Spidey. It's just that, I've become a totally different person since I found my way to Su'Par Hiro Sho Doa'n, but I miss my home. I miss my friends. Damn, I never thought I'd say this, but I think I'm homesick."  
  
"So why don't you go back and visit the old place," Spidey asked. "Nothing wrong with a guy getting back in touch with his roots."  
  
"I tried that before, and it was less than a complete success. My friends were expecting the old Cyclops, and instead they got Cyke, Commander of God's Army. It was a bit of a shock."  
  
"Ah," Spidey said. "And that was how long ago?"  
  
"About a year, I guess," Cyke said glumly.  
  
"Wow. Well," Spidey said, finally finishing Cyke's 'usual' drink and sliding it to him "if I were you, I'd-" Spidey was cut off as a chair went flying, the young man ducking in time to avoid getting hit thanks solely to his spider sense and spider-like reflexes. However, the chair hit some of the bottles behind him, and Spidey was hit with a shower of broken glass.  
  
Apparently, several alternate versions of Lobo, the Hulk, the Savage Dragon, Wolverine and Piccolo had all gotten drunk and had gotten into an argument over who's healing factor was greatest. So, like typical drunk heroes, they decided to settle the matter by royally messing each other up and seeing who recovered first. However, they had forgotten or stopped caring that they were fighting in a populated area.  
  
"Well, well, well," Spidey said as he brushed the glass of his shoulders, a large grin forming on his face. "Looks like someone forgot the first rule of the SHSD Bar: Thou Shalt Not Screw with Spidey."  
  
Spidey reached underneath the bar and pulled out a large, LARGE chainsaw, and slammed it down on the counter. With a well practiced tug, he pulled the starter and the chainsaw immediately came to life, roaring like a lion. Then, as if this were not enough, the green ring on Spidey's finger generated a suit of emerald body armor that covered him from head to toe, and was quite menacing in appearance due to the many skulls and spikes jutting from it.  
  
"If you'll excuse me Cyke," Spidey said as he lifted the chainsaw over his head "I've got to go play bouncer."  
  
"Have fun," Cyke replied as he reached for his drink.  
  
With that, Spidey leapt onto his counter and raced towards the melee, shouting "GROOVY!" at the top of his lungs.  
  
Cyke sighed. He really hoped he'd be feeling more like himself tomorrow. Being depressed like this wasn't really him. However, he knew that, even though he had come so far, it had meant losing a lot along the way. He stared at the red liquid in his glass, and it reminded him the red-hair of a woman he had once pledged his life too.  
  
"Jean," he muttered softly as the chaos in the far corner of the bar intensified.  
  
"HAIL TO THE KING, BABY," Spidey yelled in his best Bruce Cambell voice.  
  
********************************************  
  
A few seconds ago, Ruben Rios had been on his way home after picking up a few essentials from the local Quick-E-Mart, beer being foremost on his agenda.  
  
As of now, Ruben was a few seconds away from becoming a statistic in the latest demographic survey dealing with drive by shootings.  
  
And it wasn't totally undeserved. Ruben was the leader of a street gang called the Nightwalkers. Last week, thinking that a rival gang, the Blood Tombs, had been getting a little too close to 'Walker territory', Ruben had decided that a little wake up call was in order. Several wake up calls, 5 total, all in the shapes of molotov cocktails (bottles containing some kind of flammable liquid, ignited by a flaming rag) all pitched inside the Tomb's favorite arcade hang-out, during the Tombs visit to the place.  
  
From the looks of the guns being pointed at Ruben by the Tombs in the passenger and backseat of the convertible, we can assume that the Tombs did not take kindly to the 'wake up call'. As if to punctuate their dislike, they opened fire.  
  
Bullets, especially the kind fired by the Tombs guns, travel at roughly the speed of sound, approximately 770 miles per hour. A normal human beings reflexes aren't even half or a fourth of that, and as such, no normal human has the slightest chance of dodging a bullet aimed squarely at them after the round has been fired.  
  
As it was, Ruben wasn't going to have enough time to watch his life flash before his eyes.  
  
You can understand, therefore, the surprise felt by the four Tombs when Ruben suddenly vanished before their eyes and their bullets merely hit the wall of the store he had been standing in front of. Ruben, however, had reappeared on the sidewalk, several yards behind the convertible and the Tombs within. He was apparently as astonished as the Tombs.  
  
Yet, before the Tombs could act on their astonishment, another form appeared from nowhere, this time directly in front of the car. The Tomb driving didn't have time to scream in surprise, let alone try and miss the young man standing in the car's path.  
  
For his own part, the young man didn't even try to dodge the car. He merely lifted his right leg and then forcefully put his foot down on the hood of the car. Over 60 miles worth of kinetic energy slammed into the man's leg, but he didn't flinch as his leg asserted so much force that the inertial force carrying the car was completely overwhelmed, and the car stopped dead in it's tracks.  
  
However, the back end of the car was now higher than the front end, and even the front of the car was a few inches off the pavement as momentum refused to fully dissipate without moving the car in some way. With a slight exertion of his strength, the man pushed his foot down, and in every way but gentle slammed the car back onto the ground.  
  
It was fortunate that the Tombs in the front seat had chosen to buckle their seat belts, as that was all that kept them from slamming into the windshield of their car. The Tombs in the back seat, however, had chosen not to wear their seatbelts, and as such were now flying through the air. Both screamed as they soared through the sky, seeing that a skull splattering impact with the ground was mere seconds away.  
  
That was when the young man appeared out of nowhere again, this time to reach out and catch each of the Tombs with one hand, knocking the wind out of them as their stomachs collided with the man's outstretched arms. Then, in a single swift motion, the man brought his arms together, and slammed the backs of the two thugs together, just hard enough to knock them out. He then casually tossed the two unconscious men onto the sidewalk and disappeared again.  
  
He re-appeared next to the driver door of the convertible that now had his footprint imprinted on it's hood. The driver of the car had recovered quickly and stepped out, gun in hand. Before anything could occur, the driver felt a tapping on his shoulder. He turned to get his first good look at the human whirlwind that was utterly thrashing them. He was young, not more than in his mid-twenties and was of Japanese decent, his long black hair parted down the middle. He was dressed in worn blue jeans and a simple white shirt, over which he wore a black jacket.  
  
Kyo kept a neutral, emotionless expression on his face as he slammed his palm into the driver's jaw, careful to use only enough force to stun him. Still, he followed up his attack with a spinning right kick that caught the driver square on the side of his face, and sent the man back into his trashed car, out cold before he even touched the seats.  
  
Kyo glanced over the car to see the gunman that had been in the passenger seat had gotten out and was making a break for it. Choosing not to use the Godspeed, Kyo merely jumped, the strength in his legs carrying him several yards into the air, and plopping him a mere ten feet in front of the final gunman.  
  
The gunman quickly raised his weapon, and whether from desperation, panic or good old fashioned fear, he fired a shot at the superstrong speed-demon before him.  
  
As was mentioned before, a normal human cannot dodge a bullet fired directly at him after it's been shot.  
  
However, a human with sufficient super-reflexes and superior strength can not only dodge bullets, but catch them. Which is what Kyo did, using his thumb and index finger to snatch the bullet out of the air.  
  
Kyo held the bit of Teflon coated iron that had been fired at him up, at roughly eye level, and then with barely an effort, smooshed the metal flat, roughly the size and shape of a quarter.  
  
Unable to comprehend this, the gunman did the smartest thing he had done all day. He fainted.  
  
Kyo shook his head in a mixture of disgust and amusement, and them proceeded to tear the bumper off the front of the Tombs car and wrap it around them, effectively gift-wrapping them for the police.  
  
Then, in a blur of motion, he was gone.  
  
*****************************************  
  
"My names Tifa Lockheart," the young woman that stood before Ares said, the friendly smile that played across her gorgeous face nothing short of intoxicating.  
  
For his own part, Ares was having trouble remembering to breath or blink. His heart leapt in his chest like some caged animal trying desperately to get free. With no memory of his past, Ares could not know of his former concept of the ideal woman. Yet, he was almost certain, no matter what his concept had been, it was nothing before the flesh and blood masterpiece of God that stood before him.  
  
She was beautiful beyond his reckoning: she was young and lissome and ivory skinned with a face that verged on flawless, with long beautiful dark brown hair that fell past her waist,, and a warm smile that made Ares all but want to melt then and there. The rest of her was just a beautiful, with long, slender legs that yet spoke of great strength and power, and arms that looked just as smooth, and just as powerful. And her figure was full in the right spots, and thin and slender in others, and she wore a strange outfit that left little to the imagination: a white undershirt that all but clung to her body like a second skin, a short skirt held up by suspenders, with leather combat boots adorning her feet and leather combat gloves that covered her hand.  
  
Overall, it was a wonder that Ares was able to keep from passing out.  
  
Tifa, for her own part, raised a curious eyebrow and asked in a concerned voice, "Are you okay?"  
  
"Perfect," Ares responded, still in a bit of a bliss induced daze, commenting on his thoughts of the woman before him.  
  
"Pardon," Tifa asked, her eyebrow raised a bit higher now.  
  
Ares realized abruptly that he was not dreaming, and that he was making an ass of himself in front of a woman that he did not want to perceive him as an ass. He shook his head to clear it and then looked back at Tifa to say, "I mean, yes, I'm perfectly alright."  
  
"Are you sure," Tifa said as she laid the tray of food in her hands onto the nightstand near Ares' bed and placed a soft hand on the young man's forehead. "You feel kind of warm."  
  
Ares swallowed nervously, but replied. "I'm sure it's nothing. Probably just because I'm awake and moving after being asleep so long." Internally, he reached out with his self control and mentally ordered his body to cool down before he did something truly stupid.  
  
Tifa kept her hand on his forehead a moment longer, then relented. "I guess your right. The heats already lessening."  
  
She took her hand off and stepped back, carefully examining the man that was sitting upright in the large bed before her. He was quite handsome, and had the build of titan, every muscle perfectly defined and outlined without looking disproportional, the muscles practically sculpted onto his form like some work of art. He had long, spiky black hair that fell down to stop at the top of his shoulder blades. Overall, to Tifa's mind, the guy was definitely a hunk.  
  
Ares mentally sighed in relief as Tifa gave him a bit of breathing room, even as he smiled nervously and said, "Please forgive my lack of manners, Miss Lockheart. My name is Ares."  
  
Tifa smiled. He had a nice voice too. "So that's the name of our strange and mysterious rescuer," she said playfully. The pulled up the chair Cid had been sitting in before and sat down a foot or so away from Ares bed. "Are you sure you're okay," she asked, genuine concern detectable in her voice.  
  
Ares nodded. "I'm fine, truly. From what I've heard, I've had more than enough time to heal and get well. I'm sorry for being such a bother."  
  
Tifa laughed aloud, a noise Ares found positively enchanting. "Are you serious? Ares, you helped save our entire world. A little hospitality and some time to heal was the least we could do."  
  
Ares' face darkened a bit. "Yes, well, my help wasn't almost enough. If it hadn't been for the Life-Stream, I likely would have failed."  
  
"And if you hadn't been there to help the Life-Stream," Tifa replied "there's no guaranty that we would have survived anyway. Just by being there, you helped ensure that Sephiroth's plan failed."  
  
A puzzled look went over Ares' features. "Sephiroth?"  
  
Tifa nodded. "The evil bastard that orchestrated this whole bit of unpleasantness. You've never heard of him?"  
  
Ares shook his head. "No. I'm not from around here. You see-"  
  
Whatever Ares said next was cut off by the audible rumbling from his stomach. Ares grimaced, then smiled sheepishly as Tifa giggled.  
  
"I'm sorry," Tifa said as she reached over to the tray of food that she had brought in and placed it on Ares lap. "When Cid told me you were awake, I knew you'd be famished. We've had to feed you liquids for the last three weeks, so you must be starving."  
  
Ares had to admit, he was incredibly hungry. And the food in front of him looked delicious, consisting of some kind of chicken and vegetables, in quite generous portions.  
  
From the way Tifa was smiling, Ares guessed she had seen the utter hunger in his eyes and he blushed in embarrassment. "I tell you what," Tifa said. "I'll fill you in on what happened while you eat, and when I'm done, you can tell me your story."  
  
Ares nodded, recognizing a good deal when he heard one. "Okay."  
  
Tifa got comfortable as Ares took a bite out of the chicken and found it pretty good. "Okay, geez, where do I start," she asked herself aloud.  
  
"The beginning's always a good place," Ares said with a grin.  
  
Tifa smiled back. "True enough."  
  
Tifa sighed, as if bringing to the surface of her minds memories that weren't altogether pleasant.  
  
"I guess it all really started years ago, back when I was a little girl. I grew up in a small town called Nibelheim, and with a young boy named Cloud Strife."  
  
"Cid mentioned a Cloud," Ares interrupted. "He said he was your 'leader'. I take it this is the same Cloud?"  
  
Tifa nodded. "Yes. Cloud's been involved in this strange story since the beginning."  
  
Ares nodded in return, then said, "Forgive me, I interrupted you. I'll try to keep quiet through the rest of the tale."  
  
Tifa nodded appreciatively, but said, "Actually, It would be better if you stopped me to ask any questions you might have. I'm not much of a story teller, so I might leave something out and I'd hate to confuse you. So if you have a question, ask away."  
  
On seeing Ares nod, Tifa continued. "Like I said, Cloud and I grew up together in the same village. When we were both still little, I was hurt in an accident. Cloud blamed himself, thinking that if he had been stronger, he would have been able to 'protect' me. So, after I recovered, he told me that he was going to leave and join the military, become a member of Soldier, the toughest group of military troopers there is. Before he left, I made him promise to come back after he had become a member of Soldier."  
  
Ares could detect some sadness in Tifa's voice. It was obvious she had some strong feelings for Cloud, even back then, and that the idea of him leaving didn't sit well with her.  
  
"As it turns out, Cloud never made it to a Soldier rank. He trained with the normal infantry and hoped to eventually get strong enough to become a Soldier. It was during his training in the military that he met Sephiroth. He was a cold, ruthlessly efficient military man and the most powerful and skilled individual to ever come out of Soldier training. He was literally the most dangerous man on the planet."  
  
The hate which punctuated every syllable of the word 'Sephiroth' told Ares that Tifa really, REALLY didn't like the guy.  
  
"Well, years afterwards, Sephiroth was sent to Nibelheim to collect Materia, a crystal that contains great magic power, from a mountain overlooking the village. I was a teenager by this time, and since I new the mountain well, I was told to guide Sephiroth to the Materia, which I did. However, on the mountain we found a Shinra installation and-"  
  
"Shinra," Ares asked.  
  
"Shinra is, or was rather, a large mega-conglomerate, a huge company that all but owned Midgar, the city we're in right now. They were involved in a lot of shady dealings, one of which was experimenting on humans with Mako Energy, the Mystic energy that flows through the planet."  
  
"Oh," Ares said, then gestured for Tifa to continue.  
  
"Well, the Shinra installation contained a lot of mutated humans and creatures, all warped by Mako energy into grotesque abominations. Sephiroth returned to Nibelheim and went to the mansion that served as Shinra's little base of operation in our village. No one but Shinra personnel were ever allowed in there, so it wasn't until years later that we found out what happened. The mansion was a lab for a Shinra scientist called Hojo, and it contained a huge library containing all of his research on creating life forms from Mako energy. Worse, we learned that Hojo had managed to capture an old race of humanoids called 'Ancients' and used them for experimentation, taking their DNA and mixing it with other creatures. The results were usually painful, often resulting in the death or horrible mutation of the poor victim."  
  
Ares felt sick to his stomach, and couldn't eat any more. What kind of sick individual could just perform that sort of experimentation on innocent people like that.  
  
But even as he thought this, in the back of his mind, Ares heard an evil voice laugh a mocking laugh.  
  
"Sephiroth discovered that he himself was a result of these experiments, and the knowledge drove him insane. He went on a mad killing spree, killing my parents and almost killing me. However, Cloud saved me. Like I said, Cloud never made it to Soldier, and was an infantry trooper. He had been assigned with a detachment of troops to accompany Sephiroth to Nibelheim, most likely because he was from there and familiar with the territory. He fought Sephiroth to a standstill, and we all believed that during that battle, Cloud had killed Sephiroth. He saved my life."  
  
Tifa took a moment to smile softly at the memory.  
  
"But he was badly injured during the battle, and was taken by Hojo back to his lab for experimentation. Hojo 'fixed' Cloud, but though the Mako energy made Cloud stronger, it also had some adverse effects on his mind. He escaped, but was so addled that he spent a few years wandering the world with a fellow prisoner, and together made a living as mercenaries. On one mission, his friend was killed, and Cloud's Mako-altered mind couldn't stand the strain. It invented a false history for itself, distorting some of his memories, erasing others, even coming up with new ones to fit his altered history. I found him wandering through Midgar like that. He seemed okay, but I could tell something was wrong."  
  
"How did you come to Midgar," Ares asked as he took a sip of the tea Cid had left him.  
  
"Well, I obviously had some issues with Shinra after what happened to my town and family. I did some info digging of my own and the more I found out about Shinra, the more I wanted to bring them down. So, I spent some years training with a martial arts master and then offered my services to Avalanche, a resistance group dedicated to overthrowing Shinra. I opened a bar with some money my family left me, which served as the groups base / hideout, while I tried to recruit anyone willing to overthrow Shinra to our side. I bumped into Cloud during one of my little recruitment searches."  
  
"Ah," Ares said, understanding.  
  
"Well, after I convinced Cloud to join us, things only got more complicated. We discovered Sephiroth was still alive, and that he was even more deranged than ever, which made him more dangerous. He believed he had found a way to go to the 'Promise Land' a paradise that the Ancients supposedly found and left Earth to go to. Sephiroth believed that he had to get to the Promise Land at all cost, since he was part Ancient, and thus deserving to go. Unfortunately, the only way he believed he could get there was by traveling along the Life Stream to the Promise Land. The catch was that Sephiroth believed he had to destroy the entire world to 'free' the Life energy, so that it could then flow to the Promise Land."  
  
"My God," Ares said in disbelief. The man had been willing to destroy his planet just to reach some mythical paradise that might not exist?  
  
"We obviously had to stop him. Thankfully, we weren't alone. We soon met up with Aeris, an actual descendent of the Ancients, who Cloud bumped into while she was selling flowers in Midgar, strange as that may sound. She joined me, Cloud and Barret, the leader of Avalanche, in our efforts to stop Sephiroth. Along the way, we met up with Red XIII, Cid, Yuffie and Vincent, all who joined us. We had a lot of adventures together, and Sephiroth never made it easy on us. That bastard even went so far as to ...kill..Aeris."  
  
Tifa took a moment collect herself as the image of Sephiroth impaling Aeris with his huge sword suddenly flashed through her mind. Ares wanted to reach out an comfort her, but didn't know what to do or say, and that pained him greatly.  
  
"Finally, we managed to stop Sephiroth and in the process, fix Cloud's memories as well. The only problem was that, before we could kill him, Sephiroth had summoned Meto, a planet destroying spell that he had planned on using to, well, destroy the planet. The only thing we could do was summon the Life Stream and hope that it was strong enough to defeat Meto. Luckily for us, you were there to save the day."  
  
Ares blushed a little as he replied, "Well, the Life Stream did most of the work. I was on the verge of collapsing when it finally came and took over. I really just gave what little effort I could, and thankfully it was enough."  
  
Tifa smiled. He was so modest. "Well, it turned out Sephiroth had been right about something. The Life Stream could lead you to the Promise Land. The only thing was, that the 'Promise Land' was really 'Heaven'. He would have just ridden a wave of life to end up at the pearly gates, and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have been able to get in. But someone in the Promise Land, it turns out, could ride the Life Stream back to our planet if it was concentrated enough."  
  
"Like it was when it was concentrating on stopping Meto," Ares asked.  
  
"Exactly," Tifa said with a smile. "And when the Life Stream finally subsided, Aeris was back with us again."  
  
Ares smiled. He loved happy endings.  
  
"So what happened next," Ares asked. "It's been three weeks since then, so I assume you've been busy."  
  
"Incredibly," Tifa responded. "During the course of our adventure, Shinra had been effectively defeated, and the near encounter with Meto, as well as the encounter with the Life Stream helped open everyone's eyes to the world around them. Our little group spent the next days helping repair the city and try to organize some new form of government to take Shinra's place. Aeris made an impassioned speech to all of Midgar, saying that it was time for them to choose their own leader, and how the time had come for them to work towards a better tomorrow. As such, we had the first election of a leader on Midgar in years, the people voting on who they thought should lead them. Aeris always did have a way to make people understand, just by talking to them."  
  
Tifa grinned broadly at the memory.  
  
"So no one except Aeris was surprised when the votes showed that the public wanted her to lead them. It took a little convincing from Cloud and me to get her to accept, but she finally said yes and has done a great job of putting this city back together since then."  
  
Silence filled the room as Tifa came to the end of her story. Ares whistled, impressed by what he had heard. "My God, Tifa. That's amazing. This world is like nothing I can believe, like some..some great place filled with Magic and Adventure. A world of Fantasy."  
  
"Fantasy, eh," Tifa asked with a rueful smile. "It was almost a Final Fantasy, then. We barely managed to pull out a desperate victory, and even then, Midgar is still in pretty bad shape."  
  
"Was the city that badly damaged by Meto," Ares asked.  
  
"Not just by Meto, but by several attacks on the city by giant ancient creatures called Weapons, and then from Sephiroth himself. As it is, we're lucky that 68% of the city's still in good shape."  
  
"Then I'll help you," Ares said, as he started to stand up, eager to do anything but sit in bed. "I'll help fix the city as a way of thanking you for taking care of me-" Ares suddenly remembered that the only thing protecting his modesty was the blanket covering him, which was starting to slide off of him as he stood. With speed that defied his human looking appearance, Ares grabbed the blanked and quickly wrapped it around his waist, just before Tifa could see anything that would have been a little too intimate for their first meeting.  
  
Ares face turned beat red as he stammered out, "I-I m-mean, after I get some clothes on." Then he remembered something. "Didn't Cid send my clothes up with you?"  
  
Tifa recovered from her initial shock at almost seeing 'all' of Ares, though there was still a bit of color in her cheeks. "Um, yes he did," she said nervously as she handed him a box containing his attire. "The only thing completely undamaged was the white head band, the belt and that wrist watch. Everything else was really messed up, some worse than others. We managed to stitch up the tears in the black bodysuit, but we didn't have much luck with anything else. "  
  
Ares smiled as he took the box from her. "I wouldn't worry about it. I'll be able to fix it myself in a second."  
  
Even as Tifa raised a questioning eyebrow, Ares began to blush a bit. "Um, could please turn around?"  
  
"Oh!," Tifa said, "Of course. Sorry."  
  
Tifa turned around quickly, and mentally kicked herself for such a stupid move. Did she expect him to change into his outfit while she was staring at him? Then the thought struck her: had she wanted to see him change into his outfit? She blushed in embarrassment and decided not to think about it and just stared straight ahead and not think of anything.  
  
And found herself looking at a full length mirror that showed her everything that was going on behind her, an image of Ares still clutching the blanket around his waist showing on the reflective glass. She started to say something, but before she could Ares tossed the blanket aside and opened the box before him, smiling at the sight of his familiar garb, though a bit saddened at it's present state. Tifa's eyes widened. Everything that had been hidden under the blanket was just as well defined and proportioned as everything else she had seen on him. And she meant everything.  
  
As Tifa closed her eyes and tried not to pass out, Ares slipped into his one piece black bodysuit, the ebony material covering everything, stopping only at his wrists to reveal his hands and at the very end of his neck to let his head show. Tifa's people had done a good job of fixing the suit. He then slipped his torn green shirt over his chest, fastening the flap of the military style shirt to the button that lay over the right side of his chest. He then pulled on the damaged white gloves and boots, and fastened the undamaged white belt around his waist. He slipped his red cape onto his shoulders, the torn red material held in place by two golden disks joined by a golden cord falling between them. Finally, Ares adjusted the object that looked like a high-tech wrist watch around his right wrist and tied the white headband around his brow.  
  
"Okay, I'm done," Ares said to Tifa, who had finally managed to get her heart-rate down and remembered to breath normally. The man before her stood roughly at six feet tall, and cut the image of a hero straight from the pages of mythology, and had his outfit not been in such shambles, he would have had the look of a god.  
  
"You look good," Tifa said with a smile. "I'm just sorry we couldn't fix more of the outfit for you."  
  
Ares chuckled. "I wouldn't worry about it. Watch this."  
  
Ares lifted his left hand until it was at his eye level, and then grabbed his left wrist with his right hand, after which he closed his eyes in concentration. A soft blue glow began emanating from him, and soon it completely engulfed him, making him appear to be a humanoid figure made completely out of blue light. Tifa looked on in astonishment, for though the light was bright, it did not hurt her eyes.  
  
After a few seconds, the light subsided, and Tifa gasped in awe. Ares' outfit was completely repaired, as if it were a brand new outfit that had never been worn before.  
  
"Ares," Tifa said "I think you have some explaining to do." 


	6. Chapter Five: The Reunion of Souls

"So you're telling me you do this all the time," Tifa asked in astonishment.  
  
Ares nodded as he adjusted his hands slightly to get a better grip on the woman in his arms. "Well, like I told you before, I don't remember much about my past, so I don't know. However, I enjoy the sensation so much, I would think I would do this as often as I could."  
  
"Well," Tifa said a little nervously "as long as you know what you're doing."  
  
Ares smiled. "Trust me."  
  
Tifa smiled back. "Okay."  
  
And with that, Ares doubled his flight speed and Tifa gave a whoop of excitement as they sped across the city of Midgar, soaring through the air at incredible speeds.  
  
Yes, they're flying. What did you think they were doing?  
  
Perverts.  
  
(AHEM Sorry, I'll get back into Third Person Perspective mode. Carry on.)  
  
"And you use ki to do this," Tifa asked through the smile on her face.  
  
Ares nodded to the woman in his arms, one arm tucked underneath he knees, the other wrapped around her back. "It's a fairly simple technique if you have enough ki. It's just a matter of moving it correctly within you and then you can move yourself. Your speed and maneuverability are based solely on your control of your internal power."  
  
"Wow!," Tifa's exclaimed cheerfully, her eyes full of childlike wonder, her arms draped around Ares neck. "Master had taught me about ki energy during my training. I use it during combat all the time, but I can only use it to boost the power of my attacks. I've always been limited to a range of touch. I knew ki was a powerful force, but the idea that you could use it to fly......."  
  
"I know," Ares said with a grin. "Isn't it wonderful?"  
  
"Yeah," Tifa said as the wind whipped through her hair, and she closed her eyes and smiled as she just enjoyed the sensation of the wind passing over her whole body.  
  
Ares looked at her and couldn't help think of her as the ultimate picture of loveliness. She was just so cute when she did things like that. "I could teach you how to this, if you'd like," he offered.  
  
"Really?!" Tifa's eyes widened in disbelief.  
  
"Sure," Ares nodded. "Your ki is very strong; much stronger than a normal person. It wouldn't take more than a week tops to get you flying."  
  
"I'd love that," Tifa said cheerfully. The smile on her face was so bright and lovely that Ares had to tap into an extraordinary reserve of will power to look away from it and concentrate on not hitting a building. As he did so, he whistled in amazement before giving voice to his astonishment.  
  
"This city is so.......HUGE," Ares commented as he flew in-between large buildings, over and under pipes and bridges and walkways. The city was like a huge maze, with many levels to it. Rising far above the city were the levels dedicated to the wealth. It was a place of glittering towers and filtered air, of stainless steel and polished glass. A level (and several stories) below were the middle grounds, a place where those that could be described as the average citizen. It wasn't as clean, but it seemed more 'real', as if the towering skyscrapers above were some dream. And below this where the 'dregs', a place of dirt and trash, of shattered dreams and broken promises. If the 'high' was a place of day dreams, then this was a harsh reality. Dirt and disease, wooden buildings and insects. However, the lower levels had real trees and plants growing in real dirt ground, not genetically engineered plants growing in treated soil in potted plants. In some senses, this place was more real than the above grounds, for one simple reason. It was the place that had started a resistance against the tyranny of an evil corporation. It was the level that had been home to people willing to die to ensure a better future.  
  
In short, it had hope.  
  
"Tifa. This city-" Ares said, grasping for the city's name.  
  
"Midgar," Tifa said.  
  
"-Midgar. Right. How much of what I'm seeing of it right now is damage caused by Meteo?"  
  
"A lot of it, but not all of it. Some was caused by exploding Mako Reactors, and others where caused by attacks by Weapons generated by the planet to stop Shinra from mining Mako energy."  
  
Ares nodded, even as he struggled to make sense of it all. Reactor's that drained the life energy from the planet? 50 foot tall monsters created by the planet specifically to destroy certain individuals. It all sounded so far fetched, that if Tifa didn't radiate honesty and sincerity, he might not have believed her.  
  
He then noted that he was flying through the sky powered by an internally generated mental/physical/spiritual energy known as ki. And, if he understood his power level right, he could blow up the planet underneath him if he wanted to. That was at least as far fetched as some of the other things Tifa mentioned.  
  
Ares looked at Tifa again, and quickly turned and looked elsewhere. He had felt a mix of shame and embarrassment when Tifa had asked him about his past. After she had pretty much told him her life story, all that he could tell her was that his earliest memory was being sent to another dimension by some machine. He didn't even remember what he had been doing in the vicinity of a machine like that. Something in the back of his head told him that there had been something going on at the time of his dimensional jaunt, but almost everything before his exit into this world was blurry, and not getting any clearer.  
  
Ares looked instead at the city again, and didn't like what he saw. Of the city, only a few places was in perfect working order. Most of it was damaged in some way shape or form, from small cracks in the skyscrapers to large gaping holes in some buildings. And still other parts were completely devastated. Large craters were visible everywhere, and there was more than one fallen skyscraper, laying broken on the ground like some chopped down tree. The worst section had been an area where a whole section the highest level of the city had collapsed and fallen, smashing down on the level below it, and driving it down to the level beneath it. Ares could only imagine the horror that must have been on the faces of the people as they looked up to see the sky falling down on them.  
  
Ares shuddered involuntarily.  
  
"You alright," Tifa asked.  
  
"No," Ares said solemnly. "All this suffering and destruction doesn't sit well with me. The idea that most of it was caused by just few individuals vying for power sickens me to no end."  
  
"I know how you feel," Tifa said. "It's not right for someone to cause so much hurt and pain just because he wanted some extra money to line his pockets with."  
  
Ares nodded, then noticed a repair crew going to work on a damaged skyscraper as they came around a corner. He stopped in mid are to watch the workers repair the building. He smiles, utterly fascinated in watching them work. It looked like several of the topmost floors of the building had been totally blown away, and that the men were looking to restore them. Atop the building was a massive crane that's arm could extend 20 stories down to pick up long steel I-Beams and bring them to the top for the workers to use. Dozens of men worked with some gun-like devices that seemed to actually fuse the metal together, while other's hauled other equipment around to their fellows. Ares felt a twinge of admiration for these men. Each was doing his part to fix the damage done to their city, and without the benefit of any extra-normal abilities.  
  
"How long have you been working on repairing the city," Ares asked in curiosity.  
  
"For a few weeks at least. After Meto, it took some time to organize search and rescue parties for the people trapped in the debris, and that had to wait until after we restored something resembling order to the city. It was a real mess after all that had happened, and Meto had a lot of people scared." She paused and smiled at Ares. "However, it would have been worse if you hadn't come in and saved the day."  
  
Ares blushed brightly. "Um, it was nothing, really. I was happy to help. So- " he said, changing the subject "-after you organized the search groups?"  
  
"Oh right," Tifa said. "Well, the rescue workers were able to find a lot of people trapped under rubble and inside damaged buildings. Aeris decided that the best thing we could do is have two crews. One to search the wreckage for survivors, and the other to repair areas that have been thoroughly searched by the first group."  
  
"Makes sense," Ares commented. "How's the construction going?"  
  
"Not as well as we'd like," Tifa said a little sadly. "The damage was really extensive, and we've had to work our equipment really hard just to do what we've done so far. We've had to push them hard to get this city back as quickly as we can. People are in shelters and the street because there's nowhere for them to sleep or live. Still, we've had a some problems with machine break downs because of all the rush."  
  
As if to punctuate her last statement, a crane lifting several steel I- beams began to shake violently, right before the claw holding the beams creaked and groaned loudly. Then, with a loud crack, the claw broke, dropping the I-Beams down on the workers several stories below.  
  
Tifa's eyes widened in horror as Ares exclaimed, "SHIT!"  
  
He quickly released his grip on Tifa's legs and positioned his arm around her waist, holding her tight against him.  
  
"Hold on!" he said, and as Tifa tightened her grip around his neck, Ares shot down at incredible velocities. In less than a second, she and Ares were underneath the bottom most I-Beam, Ares swooping beneath them in an arc that now sent him up towards them.  
  
A pale blue aura began to form around the amnesiac warrior as he reached up to place his hand against the first beam. As he touched it, the aura expanded out to wrap around the metal beam as well. Still flying upwards, Ares managed to adjust the beam in his hand so that it struck every other falling I-beam, and when it did, the aura expanded to wrapped around the new beam. Somehow, the aura was gripping the metal supports, keeping them attached to each other, like a powerful magnet pulling them together.  
  
After catching all the I-Beams, Ares descended downward until they reached the base of the building, where he then gently laid the pile of metal girders down on the construction grounds. He retracted the blue aura and the girders fell free, as if released from a powerful grip.  
  
Upon standing up, he realized that he was still holding Tifa tight against him, and for the first time became aware of all her curves being pushed up against his body.  
  
Turning a bright shade of red, Ares quickly put Tifa down on the floor. "Um, sorry about that. I didn't mean to-"  
  
"How did you do that," Tifa asked in astonishment, glancing from Ares to the pile of girders on the ground, and then back to Ares.  
  
Ares breathed a mental sigh of relief. He had been worried that she would have been offended by that 'extreme closeness'. "Well, what I did was wrap my ki around the girder that I first grabbed. I used it hold onto both the girder and every other girder the first one touched by wrapping my ki around every one afterwards. Sort of like using my ki as a big hand to hold all of these girders with."  
  
A silent 'oh' formed on Tifa's lips as looked back at the girders. "Well, that was-"  
  
"IT'S HIM!"  
  
Ares turned to see the workers on this level rushing towards him frantically, arms outstretched and some with actual tears in their eyes. In a moment, they had mobbed around him, each trying to touch him.  
  
"It's the Savior!"  
  
"The One who saved us from Meto!"  
  
"The Messenger of the Gods!"  
  
"The One From On High!"  
  
Ares was starting to get overwhelmed by all of this. They were clutching at him like he was some holy idol that they needed to touch to cure all their woes. They weren't really hurting him, but they were making him feel very uncomfortable.  
  
Tifa, meanwhile watched as Ares vanished beneath the workers. Not that she could blame them for reacting like that. All the catastrophes that they had suffered, it was only natural that they'd want some sort of symbol of hope. She just hadn't counted on them turning Ares into a sort of messiah.  
  
Ares was trying how to get away from these people without hurting them, when he heard the doors to the building open and even more workers were racing towards him, shouting the same 'Savior Slogans' the current mob had been saying.  
  
"Okay, enough's enough," he said as he concentrated. He managed to raise both hands so that they were a few inches away from either side of his head, his fingers apart slightly.  
  
"TAIYOKEN!" he yelled out as he altered his ki within him, causing his aura to spring to life and suddenly glow like the sun, lighting up the entire block. The men all fell backwards, momentarily blinded by the tremendous flash of light. Ares took that moment to float roughly ten feet above the ground to be out of 'groping range'.  
  
"I'm truly sorry about using the 'Sun Fist' technique on you guys, but you have to listen to me," Ares said loudly. "I'm not a savior, or a child of God, or whatever it is you think I am. I'm certainly not a god myself. I'm...appreciative of your kind words, but I'm a man just like the rest of you."  
  
"Like heck you are," one of the men responded as his vision began to return. "I know for certain that I can't fly."  
  
Ares rolled his eyes. "Look, guys, I'm not divine or anything. I just.." Ares thought about it for a second. How the heck could he explain to them that he wasn't-  
  
"He's a wizard!"  
  
Everyone turned around to look at the lovely form of Tifa Lockheart, whom they all recognized as the newly appointed Director of Human Affairs of Midgar. Tifa spoke up again. "A powerful wizard from a far away land. When Cloud, Aeris and I learned about Meto, we called on him to help us fight Meto. He was really valuable in that battle."  
  
Ares brightened. "Yeah, that's it exactly."  
  
One of the men remained unconvinced. "Then how come we've never heard of you before?"  
  
Ares raised an eyebrow, and then summoned up a shimmering, cascading bright blue aura that danced around his form, enhancing his image of power. His voice spoke with the authority of kings and the eloquence of bards. "Mighty wizards such as I value our privacy. To become powerful, I required much training, as well as peace and quiet. I would not have had any of those if I made my presence common knowledge. Wizards are in high demand, and I would not have people knocking on my door to ask me to solve all their problems."  
  
The man nodded and looked at the ground. "Hmm. Yes. Good point. Well made. I'll shut up now."  
  
"So," Ares said with a grin, "Do you guys promise not to grope me again if I come back down there?"  
  
There were some chuckles from the men, but they all agreed not to mob the hero again. Ares sighed in relief and floated gently to the ground. Some of them had questions for the strangely garbed man in the red cape, but the foreman reminded them all that they had a building to fix.  
  
As the men went back to work, Ares walked over to Tifa and let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Thanks Tifa. I owe you one."  
  
Tifa just smiled. "Hey, don't forget, you stopped a huge Meteor from smashing up my home town. The way I see it, I still owe you one."  
  
Ares smiled back. "How about we just call it even?"  
  
"My, how generous," came the reply, but it did not come from Tifa.  
  
Ares whirled around quickly to look at the source of the voice, cursing himself for dropping his guard. He saw group of people walking towards him, leaving behind the large truck and a motorcycle that they had obviously ridden in on. They were an odd group to say the least.  
  
A young man with spiky blonde hair and a massive sword strapped to his back.  
  
A huge man with deep brown skin and what looked like a gun in the place of his right hand.  
  
A red lion wearing a spiked headdress, with the number 13 branded over a scarred eye in Roman numerals.  
  
A tall man with long black hair, clad in a long red cloak that didn't hide the gun in his right hand, or the mechanical claw in place of his left one.  
  
A young woman dressed in a pink outfit and a red jacket, with long, light brown hair on her head and a metal staff in her hand.  
  
A teenage girl with an arrogant smirk on her face and a huge shuriken (roughly the size of a wagon wheel) in her hand.  
  
And most oddly of all, a small cat wearing a crown and a red cape, holding a megaphone in one paw, riding atop a squat but powerful looking white biped humanoid creature with wings.  
  
Ares tensed slightly. This group wore very serious expressions, and they were all armed. He started to debate whether or not to assume a fighting stance when Tifa stepped up beside him and smiled at the incoming group.  
  
"Cloud! Aeris!" She said happily, "What'er you doing here?"  
  
Ares breathed a sigh of relief. These were obviously Tifa's friends, and from the looks of them, the same group that carried him into that plane the first night he showed up on this world.  
  
"I could ask you the same thing," the blonde man said, obviously the Cloud that Tifa spoke so highly of, but apparently not very happy at the moment. "I thought we all agreed that when our visitor-," he said, nodding at Ares "-woke up, that we'd keep him in his room until we could all meet with him as a group. I don't recall 'go flying with him' as being one of the options we discussed."  
  
"I know, but-" Tifa began before Ares stepped slightly in front of her.  
  
"Now hold on! I think I have some say in what I do with my free time," Ares said sternly. "I'm grateful for you taking care of me, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to let you dictate my actions, well intentioned or not. And I'm certainly not going to let you berate Tifa for letting me get a little exercise after several weeks of inactivity or allowing me to save some lives."  
  
"Whoa, whoa. Settle down," Cloud said as he held up his open hands defensively. "I didn't mean it that way."  
  
Ares raised an eyebrow as Cloud explained. "My friends and just wanted to talk to you when you woke up. You did just come out of nowhere and save us from the most destructive mystic spell in existence. You'll forgive us if we're kind of curious about someone with that kind of power."  
  
"Besides," Aeris said in the calmest, serene voice Ares had ever heard, "you never gave us a chance to properly thank you for saving our planet."  
  
Ares started blushing again. These people were certainly a very grateful bunch. He reached back and scratched the back of his head with his right arm. "Oh. Well, I,.um.., that is I was happy to help any way I could."  
  
He bowed courteously to the group. "Please forgive the earlier rudeness. I'm suppose I'm still a little high strung from my little brush with death a few weeks ago, although it seems like a few hours ago to me."  
  
Aeris nodded. "You were unconscious most of the time, so it's understandable. And as one person who's experienced death before, I know what you mean."  
  
Ares nodded back. He remembered Tifa telling him about Aeris' return from death. He found it a very odd idea, that someone could die, then return from death. He seemed to remember his idea of death being somewhat more permanent.  
  
"Oh well," he thought to himself. "I'm pretty sure Aeris' case was pretty rare. I mean, how ridiculous would it be if people came back from death all the time?"  
  
Ares looked at the collection of individuals before him. He looked at the woman standing beside him. He reached out with his mind, his ki, and gingerly felt the aura's of the group. They were a good group of people. Even the most unscrupulous amongst them was a basically good person. Someone willing to risk life and limb for their friends. The bond between the group was so strong, it was almost palpable, even without his ability to see it.  
  
He was a man without a past. A stranger in a strange land. And more than anything else right now, he didn't want to be alone.  
  
"Well," Ares said with a smile "Let's talk."  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
In Los Angelos, in the popular night club known as the Lux, a man played the piano.  
  
Well, played is the wrong term for it.  
  
You see, anyone can play a piano.  
  
What this man did was more akin to using the piano like a fine artist, crafting the sound it made into a concerto of unparalleled perfection, a symphony of acoustic flawlessness.  
  
His fingers danced lightly over the piano keys, gently running his fingers across the keys the way a man might run his hands across the body of a lover he'd been away from for far too long. His gentle caresses made the piano moan in ecstasy, producing a vibrant sonata that captivated the patrons listening.  
  
No one made a sound. The patrons barely breathed for fear of missing one melodious note of the masterpiece being created before them, as this man seemed to make love to the piano with his hands.  
  
For several minutes, it continued. The beat climbing higher, faster, becoming more fast paced as the man made the tempo rise to mountain heights, before letting them fall back down to a slower, gentle, more rhythmic sonnet. Faster. Slower. Powerful. Gentle. The heart rates over everyone keeping pace with the music.  
  
Over and over, the man in white with black hair made the piano pour forth beautiful golden harmony, the audience's ears licking it up eagerly.  
  
And when he touched his last key and stood up, there was not a hand that wasn't clapping in the main room, nor was any not standing to give the man their applause.  
  
The man stood up an bowed, smiling slightly. He took some small pleasure in their adulation, in much the same way a human is amused when a small animal seems to enjoy being scratched behind the ears.  
  
After the applause subsided (and some people went outside to smoke a cigarette) the man went retrieve his coat from the coat-check counter. The attendant, a young woman named Brittany, was wiping the tears out of her eyes as the man walked over to her.  
  
"Something wrong, Brittany," the man asked.  
  
"Oh!," the girl exclaimed, startled, as he hadn't made a sound as he approached her. "No, Mr. Sam, sir. It's just that..when you play like that, it's..I don't know. I can't describe how it makes me feel."  
  
Samael nodded back to her. "Yes, I understand. Like the music of Heaven."  
  
Brittany shrugged as she handed the older gentleman his coat. "I guess so, sir, if you believe in that sort of thing. I haven't believed in a God or a heaven since my parents died when I was nine."  
  
Samael smiled ruefully and took his coat. "Believe whatever you want. That's what He gave you free will for, wasn't it?"  
  
Brittany only looked on in confusion as Samael walked out of his club for his nightly stroll down the street. Internally, he was talking. Not to himself. To someone that he knew was listening.  
  
"You hear that, You old Bastard/Bitch?," Samael thought, smiling eternally. "Was it truly worth creating these miserable little things? Over a quarter don't even believe You exist, and many more believe in other deities besides You. I'd laugh if it weren't so tragic."  
  
Samael thought for a moment, then smiled as he said aloud, "Oh, what the heck. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA!"  
  
Suddenly, a hand reached out of the alley and grabbed Samael's neck. Intrigued, Samael let the man throw him into the alley, landing on the ground in a heap. As Samael looked up, he saw a young man in black leather jacket, pointing a gun at his head.  
  
"Okay laughin boy, hand over any money you have, plus that watch and anything else you got on you! NOW!"  
  
Samael smiled as he picked himself up off the ground and dusted off the clutter from the ground that had clung to his coat. "You humans," he said smugly. "So confident in your belief that something like a gun makes you invincible."  
  
The young man sneered at Samael. "I'm invincible enough, mother fucker! And if you don't want me to blow your fucking head off, you better give me your God DAMN MONEY!"  
  
Samael just looked at him. "No, I don't think so."  
  
The young man rolled his eyes. "Fine."  
  
BLAM!  
  
Samael just smiled as the bullet headed towards him. His perceptions were such that it appeared to be moving in super slow motion, even though it was really moving at roughly the speed of sound. About half way to him, the bullet stopped in mid air. It was almost as if, on a molecular level, the bullet was somehow afraid of the man.  
  
Which should be impossible. How can a bullet fear anything? Yet, from the way the bullet hovered in mid air, vibrating slightly, one can't help but wonder.  
  
In an case, the bullet stopped in mid air, and Samael, with a smug look on his face casually walked over to it as the young man stood there, flabbergasted. Samael casual slapped the still hovering bullet with his hand. His hand effortlessly passed through the bullet, reducing it to ashes with but touch. The dust that was once a bullet sifts and blows in the wind, becoming a small cloud of fine powder.  
  
Samael thinks a dark thought, and the cloud of dust becomes a swarm of locusts that converged on the young man. The man screamed as they bit into his flesh, a swarming, hewing horde of demonic insects whose bite could pierce steel. He tried to wave them away as they rent cloth from flesh and flesh from bone. Bleeding profusely, the man ran forward to escape them, only to slam into Samael. Through the one good eye the locusts left him, he looks up at Samael's cold, impassive smirk.  
  
"Now, since you were going to relieve me of something valuable, why don't I do the same to you," he asked, but it was much more a foreshadowing than a question.  
  
With that, he plunged his fist inside the young man's chest.  
  
The young man screamed, but it didn't last as he began to spasm violently as Samael then pulled his fist out, clutching something dark and ethereal, a flowing, writhing mist of blackness that shimmered with dark energy.  
  
The young man's body slumped up against the wall, his eyes lolled back in their sockets, a trickle of drool starting to form on the corner of his mouth as Samael looked at the thing in his hands.  
  
"My, my, my, what a dark soul you have, my young friend. Hard to believe it was ever anything remotely white."  
  
He glanced over and watched as the body died, taking some satisfaction in that. If nothing else, these weaklings were unbelievably amusing when they died. Still gripping the dark soul in his hand, he felt a wave of what a normal person would have called nostalgia.  
  
"Why not," he muttered to himself, a small grin crossing his features. "It's been a while since I've seen the old place."  
  
With that, he took one step forward and was at the gates of Hell.  
  
He took a deep inhale of the air, and smiled. Nothing like the sent of soul char to remind him of this place.  
  
With one kick, the doors of Hell flew open, and all the denizens within turned to look at the former Prince of Hell. With a casual gesture, he tossed the black soul into the realm of Hell, the ethereal form of the soul changed and altered, and as if fell on the hot coal like floor if Hell, it now resembled it's former mortal body.  
  
"Special delivery," Samael said with an evil smile.  
  
And bad joke or not, no one dared mock the second most powerful being in the universe.  
  
No one.  
  
******************************************************************  
  
"And that's all you can remember," Cloud asked. He, Ares, Tifa and the rest of their group were all seated around a large oak meeting table in the former office of Shinra's main branch, which the group now used as their base of operation.  
  
Ares nodded his head again. It seemed like the forth or fifth time he had to make that statement, and he was getting a little tired of reiterating that his first really clear memory was when he popped into this dimension.  
  
"My memories are fuzzy right before I left my home dimension," Ares said. His brow furrowed in concentration as he said, "I remember a lab. I also distinctly remember something called the Trans-Dimensional Displacement Unit, which I know was designed to cross dimensional boundaries. Why I was in the lab, how or why the device sent me here, those are things I don't know." Ares paused. "I also remember that my eyes were burning, but now I can't remember why either."  
  
Cloud whistled. "And I thought I had problems."  
  
There were a few chuckles around the room, but it quickly became quiet again. Finally, Aeris, as the new leader of Midgar, stood up and addressed Ares. "Well, now that you're here in our realm, what do you plan to do?"  
  
Ares glanced around the table nervously. His gaze fell on Tifa for a fraction of a second longer than the rest of the group, but it continued until it rested on Aeris as he stood up as well.  
  
"I'm a stranger here. An outsider in a strange place. But despite that, you people took me in and helped me heal when it would have been much easier to do otherwise. I'm very grateful to you for that."  
  
The words came from Ares clear and true, and were said with palpable sincerity that reached out to everyone in the room.  
  
"I've also seen the condition of your city, and my heart breaks for the people of it. I can imagine their pain and suffering very vividly. I can literally feel their discomfort with my abilities, and I can think of nothing worse that people suffering needlessly."  
  
The sincerity had not left his voice, but now conviction and purpose now added their strength to his words.  
  
"Therefore, with your permission, I'd like to become a resident of this city of Midgar, and help in it's repair any way I can. Maybe my memories will return. Maybe they won't. However, until they do, I'd like to be of some use to you and the people here."  
  
There was silence as Ares finished, his heart beating nervously within his chest as he awaited Aeris' words.  
  
The young woman looked at the assembled group.  
  
"Are their any objections?"  
  
"No." Cloud responded solemnly.  
  
"Not at all," Tifa replied cheerfully.  
  
"Hell naw," Barret said with a smile.  
  
"None what-so-ever," Red 13 remarked.  
  
"Nope," Cat Sith replied.  
  
"Nah," Yuffie said with a wave of her hand.  
  
"Fuck no," Cid commented.  
  
Vincent made no reply, but merely shook his head.  
  
"Well then," Aeris said happily "as the new Mayor of Midgar, it is my pleasure to introduce to you, our newest citizen: Ares!"  
  
Ares blushed a little as the assembled group gave him a short round of applause.  
  
"Well then," Aeris said "I think the next order of business is to get you a place to stay and get you familiar with the city. I think one of us should spend a lot of time with you. You know, showing you around the city, giving you some background information and just generally make you feel welcome here."  
  
Cloud briefly glanced at Tifa, then smiled. "I think given their earlier trip, Tifa should be the one to bring him up to date."  
  
Tifa's eyes widened in surprise. "Me?"  
  
Ares blushed a little deeper, but quickly forced the color out of his cheeks. He also said a quick 'Thank You' to God. He had thought about whether he had believed in a Divine Being, but he hadn't been sure.  
  
However, having Tifa Lockheart assigned to spend a lot of quality time with him, well, that pretty much clinched it for him that there WAS indeed a God.  
  
Not to mention that Tifa looked like the mold God broke when he made women.  
  
"Is that a problem, Tifa," Aeris asked. Ares hoped it wasn't.  
  
"No, it's not," Tifa said, which made Ares mentally shout out in joy. However, he made sure just to smile politely at Tifa and not start dancing in celebration.  
  
Tifa then went on to say, "I just was wondering if I was the best person to help Ares get use to our world."  
  
Aeris smiled. Apparently Tifa hadn't noticed how Ares looked at her, or how he blushed whenever she even glanced at him or smiled at him. "Trust me Tifa, you're our best candidate to get Ares use to our city."  
  
Tifa nodded as she looked over at Ares. "Okay. Well then, I'd be happy to show you around town and bring you up to speed. Maybe we could do breakfast tomorrow and take it from there?"  
  
"Sounds wonderful," Ares replied.  
  
"Also," Cloud said "We need a full test and examination on what you can do, so that we can look into where you can be most useful."  
  
Ares nodded. "Fair enough. I'm kind of curious to find out what my limits are myself."  
  
"Well then," Aeris said "If that's all for now, how about we go get some dinner?"  
  
To that proposal, there was absolutely no resistance.  
  
******************************************************************  
  
Showdown City is quite a town.  
  
Located on the same dimensional nexus as Su'Par Hiro Sho Doa'N, Showdown City seems to serve a different purpose.  
  
SHSD was a place for warriors to come and test their mettle against each other in fair combat, without fear of death or dying, as the rejuvenation fields that covered each battle-dome would revived a slain person 10 seconds after their death. Additionally, it was also a place for people to just hang out and enjoy one another's company with no fear of death, major bodily harm or any fear.  
  
Showdown City, by contrast, is a place where old enemies can go to 'settle the score' without interruption. In that city, they can fight without interruption, until one is defeated, or worse. Anyone that dies here, dies permanently. There are many times when the many skyscrapers that make up the shady city get knocked down as a result of the battles.  
  
A good analogy would be that SHSD is Metropolis while Showdown City is Gotham.  
  
However, there's one individual that makes his home here that was neither grim nor gritty, and was currently running for his life as two men clad in alien symbiotes ran after him.  
  
"It is agreed then, Carnage," the larger, more muscular of the two said, clad in a jet black alien with a large white spider on it's chest. A mouth filled with sharp teeth continued to say, "We will finish our battle after I have eaten this upstarts spleen."  
  
The smaller of the two, clad in a red and black symbiote looked up at his 'friend' as they followed their prey into an alley. "His spleen, Edie," Carnage asked as he laughed manically. "Do you even know what that is? Or where it's at?"  
  
The creature that use to be Edie Brock smiled. "I'd have fun looking for it."  
  
The intended victim in question was running as fast as his legs could carry him, which was pretty darn fast all things considering. He was a short man that appeared to be in his mid thirties, but was far older than that. He had long, pointed ears and equally long silvery hair that draped over his rather fashionable outfit. It consisted of a black shirt, black pants, and the ever trendy black trench coat. As he raced down the alley, he turned his head over his shoulder and called out, "Hey, come on guys! It was a JOKE! So maybe the exceptionally loud noise maker was a bad idea, it was still pretty funny, right?"  
  
"Not half as funny as it'll be to split you open and then literally paint the town red with your intestines," Carnage said with glee before turning to Venom and saying "U-know Edie, I think you're starting to rub off on me."  
  
Venom merely scowled as he hastened his pace after the short being before him, amazed that the 'elf' could run at that speed.  
  
"You know, guys," Robin Goodfellow said through gasps of air "I'm really huff flattered by the attention, but gasp isn't this going a bit far?"  
  
"Not at all," Venom replied. "You're still breathing."  
  
Robin arched an eyebrow "So we're going to keep this up until I'm dead?"  
  
"That's the general idea Spock," Carnage said as he and Venom continued to chase after the Faerie as he wound his way through the alleyways.  
  
A look of shock went over Robin's face. "Spock? SPOCK? Of all the-"  
  
Robin stopped dead in his tracks and ducked. As a Faerie, inertia didn't pay attention to him if he didn't want it to, so he stopped on a dime, even as Venom and Carnages last leap sent them flying over his head and several dozen feet in front of him.  
  
"Look, I'd understand if you called me Puck or Pan or something like that, but SPOCK? A humorless alien portrayed by a human that doesn't look like he has the physical capabilities to smile? I am deeply insulted."  
  
As Venom and Carnage turned around to face him, Robin positioned his hands on either side of his hips, like a gun-slinger getting ready for a show down. "So of course you realize, this means WAR."  
  
The huge whites of Venom and Carnages eyes seemed to get even wider. What on Earth was this little man thinking about doing.  
  
Then, viper quick, Robin's hands darted inside the pockets of his coat and pulled out-  
  
"Paddle balls?," Carnage said in surprise. Venom too, was caught off guard by this.  
  
For exactly one second, there was complete and total silence in the alleyway as Robin Goodfellow pointed a pair of paddle-balls at his symbiote pursuers. A second later, the wind blew in and knocked over a tin can, making a metallic ping noise that seemed very loud given the omnipresent quiet.  
  
Then Venom and Carnage began to laugh. Long. And Loud. And Clear.  
  
"Paddleballs?!," Carnage said between gasps of air as he gripped his splitting sides. "My God, and I thought I'd seen everything."  
  
"We agree," Venom said as his eyes began to water. "This is funnier than that Scarlet Spider outfit Riley use to sport around!"  
  
Robin only smiled as he flicked his wrists, snapping the paddles back and then forward with great speed. With practiced skill, the wooden paddles hit the rubber balls, sending them flying forward, towards Carnage and Venom. However, the elastic string connecting paddle and ball did not become taught, and just kept stretching. When the balls passed the half-way mark between Robin and the Symbiotic Duo, the balls suddenly grew to the size of wrecking balls and had the density of lead.  
  
"WHAT THE FU-," was all the started former humans could say before the two giant sphere's smashed into their chests continued on their courses, carrying the symbiotes backwards out of the alley, and forcefully into contact with a building on the opposing side of the street.  
  
With a flick of his wrist, the balls came back, but resumed their normal size and density before they smacked into his paddles. Without missing a beat, he began to expertly paddle the balls as a huge grin broke out over his face. "Ssssuuuckers. They always fall for the old 'Paddle Balls of Ungodly Size' trick."  
  
The smile vanished as the building that Venom and Carnage smashed into began buckle. A dark shadow loomed over him as the 10 story building fell, like a tree that was cut down at it's base. He guessed that Venom and Carnage must have smashed into something vital as the top nine stories of the building suddenly began to topple over him.  
  
"Well, this is unexpected," was all Robin managed to get out before the building collapsed over him.  
  
There was an ear splitting CA-THOOM as the building smashed into the ground, smashing the buildings around it, the force sending debris flying in all directions and shattering windows for a block in all directions.  
  
Robin Goodfellow's eyes were shut tight and his jaw was tightly clenched. Upon finding out that he was unhurt in the slightest, he opened one eye cautiously to see how in Oberon's name he was still in one piece. He was quite surprised to see that he was standing in the center of a window, the glass apparently missing for some reason or other, possibly to be repaired. He looked about him and found himself staring at what should have been the floor of a room. He looked up and saw a door leading up and away. It looked like he was in an unfurnished apartment room. He glanced around some more and smile.  
  
"Well I'll be an Orc's Uncle," he said through an enormous grin. "Looks like it wasn't quite time to cash my chips in."  
  
He shoved the paddle balls back into his coat pockets, then scratched his head.  
  
"Now how the heck am I gonna get out of here?"  
  
******************************************************************  
  
"And that should just about do it," Ares proclaimed happily. Currently, the stranger from another dimension was holding a steel girder in place with one hand, while the other generated a pulse of energy that welded the beam to the structure of the building. After a few moments, the blue light faded as the job was done, the I-beam now truly fused with the structure.  
  
Ares floated away from the building to get a better look at what he had done. It looked perfect to his eyes, and even though his eyes were the sharpest on the planet, he still wanted to be sure. So, he felt the object with his ki. Invisible, undetectable by the normal man, his personal energy field expanded out from him and wrapped around the girder and the other support beams it was attached to. Like an ethereal hand, it felt the structure, looking for any noticeable or vital flaw in the structure, and could find none.  
  
Ares smiled, satisfied with the job he had done. He glanced down and saw that the construction crew ten stories beneath him were ready to get to work, so he floated down to the ground level.  
  
"She's all yours," Ares said to the man leading the construction crew.  
  
" 'Preciate it, Ares," Barret Wallace said as he tilted his construction workers helmet up a notch to be able to bet a better look at the young warrior.  
  
Ares, for his own part, had to look up to Barret, if for nothing else than the fact that he was a good 7 to 9 inches taller. More impressive than his size or incredible build was the man's heart and spirit. Ares had been told of how Barret had formed a small but effective resistance group on his own, with no outside help, to take down the strongest corporation on the planet. That took heart and guts, something Barret had plenty of.  
  
Ares glanced fleetingly at the cybernetic gun that took the place of Barret's hand on his left arm. Ares had also been told of how Barret had been captured and used as a guinea pig in one of Shinra's experiments to test out new cybernetic implants to be used in increasing the effectiveness of their soldiers. For some reason, the idea of being strapped down to a lab table and experimented on chilled Ares to his core, and he suspected that he had had some bad experiences with labs before.  
  
However, Barret's machine gun arm had been replaced with a different type of gun arm, one that could be used in construction, because it could fire nails and irons, and also be removed to be replaced with a jack-hammer attachment.  
  
Ares smiled at the irony of a man taking a weapon of war and turning it into a tool of construction.  
  
"This is, what, the 5th building frame you've built today," Barret asked.  
  
"7th, actually," Ares said. "And that's not counting the repair work I did on those other buildings."  
  
Barret shook his head. "Man, how is it you do more before lunch than most people do in a week?"  
  
Ares shrugged. "Clean living, I guess."  
  
Barret laughed out loud. "Clean? HAH! Friggin spotless living is more like it. You get any healthier and you're gonna give me a complex. How'd you get so tough anyway?"  
  
Ares shook his head. "I don't know."  
  
"Oh," Barret said, mentally kicking himself in the head. It had been nearly a month since Ares had been made a formal citizen of the city, and yet there were times that Barret still forgot that the man's memory hadn't improved at all in the time he'd been there. However, Ares had done everything to help out, and the city was looking more and more like it had before, if not better. During there testing of his abilities, they had discovered that Ares' physical abilities were nothing short of phenomenal. They hadn't fully been able to gauge his strength or his speed, and his skin had proven resilient to any weaponry they had. Furthermore, he could manipulate a non-magical energy, which he called ki, for so many effects that it was astounding. Barret was very grateful that he was on there side, because he wasn't sure there was enough power on Earth to defeat Ares if he went homicidal.  
  
Ares for his own part, was enjoying himself immensely. He was making a difference, helping people, an idea he relished greatly. His first priority had been to find injured people that might still have been trapped in damaged structures. There had been a surprising number of survivors trapped in damaged buildings, surviving on the scraps of food and water that had been trapped in there with them. Ares, however, could find them easily, since he could detect their ki, their life energy, with ease. It was a simple matter to find the trapped individuals, though they had always been in bad shape when he found them. Ares had actually found a mother and her two young children trapped in one building, with the mother almost dead because she had given all of the food to her daughters. It had been such a heart-wrenching scene for the young man, to see a woman so near death, yet still more concerned for her children's welfare over her own. Ares had gotten to her just in time, and had made a point to visit her as often as he could.  
  
After all the survivors were found and all the dead were buried, reconstruction had begun. Ares had been vital to this, as he could construct building frames at incredible speeds thanks to his strength and speed and energy manipulative powers. Additionally, they found out that, though his memory was fuzzy, once Ares learned something, he retained that knowledge with photographic clarity. By the second day of construction, Ares could have qualified for a master architect. Every day he helped ensure that no one would sleep on the streets. Office buildings, apartment complexes, all were being used to house those left homeless by the great tragedies of the last few months, and Ares had made sure that everyone from the commons to the higher ups was treated fairly and housed in good quarters. Office buildings became shelters as work was done to repair the damage.  
  
And not just repair, improve. Ares had looked at the decadent state of the medium and lower levels of the city and been disgusted beyond measure. He had made it clear that he wouldn't allow anyone to live in such a state if he could do anything about it. Aeris had been overjoyed to find out his view matched her own. Ares spent several hours of the day building new buildings from scratch to take the place of the inadequate homes he had scene bellow. He even went so far as to ask former residents of the dregs what their ideal homes would be like, and once he'd been given sufficient info, he had actually built homes for them that lived up to their mental image.  
  
Suffice to say, Ares had been keeping himself very busy. Yet no matter how much work he did, no matter how many hours he spent working, building, constructing, demolishing, he never grew tired. His stamina was such that even these long hours didn't wear him down. It was only when he worked out those three hours at night that he got winded, and that was after he had discovered that the device on his wrist was actually a complicated device that altered the personal gravitonic pull on the person wearing it, making him heavier or lighter as he wished. Currently, it took several thousand times normal gravity to give him a light work out, and that was without powering up to increase his physical attributes. However, the heavier gravity and the long hours of martial arts training helped keep him in tip top shape.  
  
But even when the work and training was done, he still had energy to spend with Tifa who was helping him adjust to life on Midgar. He learned the history of the planet, how to work Midgar machinery, the style's and the fashions, even though Ares rarely wore anything other than the outfit he had repaired. He found the food to be rather good, and he cherished the times he and Tifa ate together.  
  
Ares thought about Tifa, and smiled. She was just so...radiant. He had spent over a month with her, a month he had enjoyed immensely. She made him feel...he couldn't explain it. He always felt better when he was in her presence, like just being close to her made everything in the world well. Every time he let his mind wander, images of Tifa came to his mind. Even her ki signature, her aura that he could see if he wished, seemed more beautiful than anything he had ever seen.  
  
"Ares?"  
  
She was just so perfect, so wonderful, so-  
  
"ARES"  
  
"Huh," Ares said as he snapped out of his mental revere. He looked up to see Barret shaking him to try and wake him up.  
  
"You okay, man," Barret asked. "You zoned out for a second there."  
  
"Sorry," Ares said as he shook his head to clear his mind. "I was..thinking about something."  
  
"Uh-huh," Barret said with a smile. The large black man had a good idea what was occupying the young man's mind. The fact that he had taken a fancy to Tifa was obvious to everyone except, of course, Tifa herself. It never ceased to amaze Barret how complicated love lives usually were. Ares obviously liked her, but seemed too shy or unsure of himself to act on his emotions. Tifa, for her part, seemed to still have her hopes on a relationship with Cloud, even though it was pretty obvious to everyone that Cloud and Aeris were a couple.  
  
Barret sighed. Sometimes it seemed the whole relationship bit was more trouble than it was worth.  
  
"So, you gonna make it to the part we're having tonight," Barret asked.  
  
Ares nodded his head. The party in question was a ball being held by some of the wealthier citizens who were grateful for the work Aeris had done on repairing the city. It was going to be a grand event, held at the manor of one of the wealthy, a man by the name of Cyrus Olander. The man had been using his funds to help import supplies from the other cities around the world, and the party being held tonight was one that would donate all proceedings to charity. Since it was such a big 'to do', the wealthy from all over the world would be attending, bringing more money in to help the city out, which it needed. Despite Ares doing a lot of the heavy work, money was still needed, and the wealth of Midgar was taxed as it was to keep up with the massive re-construction job.  
  
And since everyone wanted to meet the 'Man that Smashed Meto', Ares had almost been drafted into going. However, Ares was going for three reasons.  
  
1) It was a good cause that would help.  
  
2) Aeris had asked him to attend, and he could hardly say no to one of his few friends.  
  
and  
  
3) Tifa was going to be there, and the opportunity to see Tifa in a dress was just too good to pass up.  
  
Ares smiled at this thought as he cracked his knuckles and prepared to get back work.  
  
******************************************************************  
  
The apartment door opened as John Michael Carters stepped into his elegant penthouse suite. The well dressed, balding man in his early forties had an open bottle of wine in one hand, while his other hand was draped across the shoulder of a very attractive and well rounded woman in a black satin dress. This woman's full body shot could conceivably be found in the dictionary as the definition of "erotic". A slender curvy form, long lean legs, ample bosom, tight butt, a cascade of wavy white hair and light caramel colored skin, clad in a dress that was low cut in the front and clung to her body like a second skin, she was an alluring temptress to behold. Her every curve seemed to scream raw sexual expertise, and it would have been hard for even a celibate man to look at her without feeling some kind of attraction.  
  
Considering the man currently groping her right breast was single and reeked of Dom Perini on, it was safe to say that he definitely felt some kind of attraction. The woman in question eased his hand off of her and then instead wrapped her arms about his neck, pushing herself very close to him, letting her breast brush up against his chest and staring into his eyes seductively.  
  
"Slow down there, handsome," she purred. "We've got all night before we get to that. How about we start off with a kiss?"  
  
Carters looked into her eyes and grinned as he drew her face close to his. "You like to keep things cool and slow, I take it?"  
  
"Not really," the woman said just before she kissed him. And what a kiss it was. One so passionate and fiery that John actually started sweating.  
  
Right before he burst into flames.  
  
He didn't really have any time to think. It happened too quickly. One moment he's enjoying the best kiss he's ever had, the next he can feel his skin melting. He tries to scream or to pull away, but the woman just holds him tighter and kisses him deeper as he burns to death in her arms. He thrashed about, trying to do anything, but the grip the woman had on him was too strong for him to break.  
  
So all he could do was wait for death, which mercifully, came quickly.  
  
Reina Quintana let charred corps fall to the floor, where it cracked and flaked as many tiny charred pieces of flesh and bone fell of to flutter in the air.  
  
"I prefer my relationships hot, passionate and quick," she said with a grin that could truly be described as amoral. She blew out a long breath of extremely hot air that coalesced into a small wisp of smoke. There was few things in life Reina enjoyed, and using her powers was one of them. She reached down and picked up the bottle of wine that had fallen from Carter's hand as he had spasmed in pain. Most of the wine remained inside, but the glass was now hot to the touch.  
  
However, a simple mental command drew most of the heat out of the bottle, leaving the wine thoroughly chilled. She put the bottle to her lips and took a deep swallow of the wine before tossing the bottle aside and looking around the large apartment until she came to a rather big oak desk. After digging through the unlocked drawers and melting the locks on the locked ones so that she could open them, she finally found what she was looking for. Inside an envelope, hidden way in the back of a formerly locked drawer were pictures of a man and a woman doing some rather interesting horizontal interaction, along with the negatives of said photos. She carefully removed the negatives and placed them in her purse with one hand, while the other hand ignited in a flash of flame, incinerating the photos in seconds.  
  
Smiling to herself, Reina quickly exited the apartment. However, as she did so, she snapped her fingers and the furniture, desk and carpets of the room all erupted in flame. As she made her way to the elevator of the ritzy hotel, she made sure to look appropriately shocked and frightened for the cameras that watched leave, even making a point to shriek and run in terror to the elevator. She maintained her hysterical facade until she entered the elevator, which she knew was camera-less. Once inside, she reached into her purse and withdrew a small cell phone, which she quickly dialed, alone in the elevator save for the voice on the other end of the phone.  
  
"Hello? Oh, hello Senator. Yes, this line is secure. Yes, that pesky Mafia boss that was blackmailing you and your campaign won't be a problem any more. That's right. Yes, I destroyed the photos and the negatives. Yes, to the average person it'll look like another case of spontaneous human combustion that inadvertently set the building on fire. Why thank you senator, that bonus is very thoughtful."  
  
There was a short pause as the senator on the other line made a different kind of proposal, which made Reina roll her eyes.  
  
"No, that's a very gracious offer, and if you were a few years younger, I'd be very flattered. But no. Besides, it's that kind of stuff that got you into trouble in the first place. That and I'd likely be so much more than you could handle that I'd kill you."  
  
Reina shook her head. Pervert.  
  
"What? No, I don't think so. This latest job is going to keep my accounts nice and full for a while now, so I'm afraid you'll have to find someone else to deal with your rival for the seat your after. Yes, I'll keep in touch. Buh-bye."  
  
With that, she hung up the phone and muttered "pig' under her voice. She hated these old bastards. Always trying to get into her pants. Still, that just made them that much easier to assassinate.  
  
She did hate having to turn down the Senators offer, though. Full bank book or not, it's not like she couldn't use the money. However, she had been limiting her targets to unscrupulous characters of late, and for a very good reason. A very powerful, very intelligent somebody had caught wind of her dealings and had made it very clear that he could put her down any time he wanted to. However, he let her know that as long as she was killing people that fell under certain 'categories', he wouldn't interfere with her. However, he also let her know that if he found out that she killed just one person outside the guidelines he set, she'd be in a power- dampening harness and doped up on anti-psionic drugs for the rest of her life.  
  
Luckily, Mafia Lords that blackmailed possible future Senators fell under the guidelines.  
  
Reina noted that elevator was almost at the bottom floor, so she got ready to go running out screaming hysterically about how her 'client' had just burst into flames for no reason. She tussled her hair, and forced out some tears and generally made herself look unsettled and overly emotional.  
  
She thought momentarily about whether or not she should change out of this dress and into her spare change of clothes she kept in the trunk of her car before heading home. If Hadrian saw her dressed like, well, a slut, he'd be really upset and likely harp on her all night for it. So, with an evil grin, she decided she'd keep it on.  
  
With that, the doors to the elevator began to open, and Reina smiled.  
  
Show time.  
  
******************************************************************  
  
Ares tugged at the collar of his tuxedo, wondering how in God's name anyone could be comfortable in this get up. Were he not fidgeting in a vain attempt to get relaxed, he might have found it ironic that a man who could walk unharmed through bullets and mystic fire would be uncomfortable in something as simple as a suit.  
  
He glanced around the room at the magnificent display of wealth and artisan accomplishment. He was currently in the enormous room that served as both the dance hall and dinning area. The room was highly decorated with expensive furniture, giant pictures, cool crystalline chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and elegant curtains draped over large windows. The place had a fragrance of majesty and wealth floating about it, a smell Ares wasn't sure if he liked.  
  
He sighed and took another sip of his water. He wouldn't drink any of the wine or alcohol served at the party. He found the taste repugnant, and wondered how the other party goers could drink the stuff, especially in the large quantities some of them drank it in. He continued to observe everyone from his spot on the wall, leaning against it while taking in all that was going on around him.  
  
There were many people there, most of them very rich and wealthy, attending simply because it was 'fashionable' to do so, which made Ares stomach turn. The idea of people coming here under the pretence of helping the poor merely because it 'looked good' made him a little angry. Ares was not overly fond of people that disguised their motives and pretended to be something they weren't. To him, the truth was very important, because it was almost all he had.  
  
Still, he admitted that the city needed their help, honest or not, so he didn't make a scene. He took another sip and glanced at his watch. The party had been going on for almost half an hour and Tifa still hadn't shown up. Ares was still nervous about the prospect of the idea, but was determined to ask her to dance at least once before the night was over.  
  
He looked out at the dance floor and saw that a number of people were dancing, the beat of the music the rather large band was supplying very mellow, very calm and slow paced. He was glad that the majority of the people were dancing and not crowding around him.  
  
Ares had not particularly enjoyed being the center of attention, especially by a group of people that seemed to want to associate with him only because he was something of a unique oddity, something that had truly never been encountered before. Tifa had told him about a thing called 'the circus' and of the 'freak shows' that are often a part of them. A place where people put those considered extremely different placed on display for the amusement of others. Even though Ares knew that quite a few of the people here didn't do that intentionally, or stare at him with any hate, malice or contempt, it didn't change the way it felt when they stared or pointed at him, often turning to their friends to make comments that they didn't think he could hear.  
  
Ares knew a lot of the people here were basically good, and that not all of them viewed him like some kind of 'freak', but he still couldn't warm up to most of them. He realized it was because a lot of them had wealth to spare, and each one of them could have been sending aid to the Midgar, but most had chosen not to until this party. Ares believed that those with power should help those without, and that many of the people here had ignored the plight of Midgar until today did not make him happy.  
  
Shaking his head sadly, Ares put his glass to his lips to take another drink, but it was then that Tifa walked into the room. She was dressed all in white, and she looked simply gorgeous. She looked like a princess, no, a GODDESS, Ares decided, and he actually dropped his glass he was so entranced by her.  
  
However, right as the glass came within an inch of the floor, Ares snapped out of it and in less time than it takes to tell, his hand was underneath the glass, preventing it from breaking. He was then standing up again before anyone realized that he had moved at all.  
  
He breathed out a sigh of relief, then turned his attention back towards the beautiful, young, Tifa Lockheart.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
"Damn, Damn DAMN," Tifa muttered just seconds before, as she made her way up the stairs of the manor. She couldn't believe how late she was. Cloud was not going to be happy with her, she could see it now.  
  
This was entirely her own fault she realized. She had been the one that insisted that she and Ares spar today, even though she knew how exhausted those training sessions left her. She was also the one that thought she could take a quick nap before the party and still make it on time. Instead, she had overslept and missed out on the first half hour of the event. Not the best way to make an impression on these people.  
  
Tifa tried to calm herself down as she made her way through the building, seeking out the dance/dinning area. She was nervous enough as it was without the thought of being so late adding to her dilemma.  
  
She had decided tonight would be the night to tell him.  
  
So, taking one last deep breath, she walked into the ball room.  
  
Tifa was decidedly unimpressed with the place. Oh, it was well furnished and large, but how do you impress a woman who has been to palaces and places of ancient myth with something expensive furniture? Still, she had to admit the place was nice, and that the owner had money to spare.  
  
Still, she quickly scanned the area, trying to find some sign of Cloud. Most of the guests were dancing, so it was easy to glance around the room to see who was dancing and who wasn't. Tifa's heart beat violently in apprehension. Cloud wasn't among the ones sitting or sidelined, which meant..  
  
There.  
  
She saw him.  
  
And her.  
  
Dancing together on the floor, was Cloud Strife and Aeris Gainsborough. And Tifa watched them as they danced.  
  
They looked so happy. So content in each others arms as they slowly paced through the gentle rhythm played by the band. Cloud staring down at her, a gentle smile on his face, while Aeris looked back up at him, to smile gently back. For them, there was nothing else. No one else.  
  
Just each other, and the music playing in the background.  
  
And Tifa turned to leave the room in a hurry, tears streaming down her face.  
  
*****************************************************************  
  
"Tifa," Ares whispered as she left the room, his keen eyes catching the glisten of a tear on her cheek.  
  
"What in-? Why-?," Ares mentally stammered, trying to make sense of why she left. But Ares suddenly didn't care why she left. It wasn't as important as the state she left in. A girl he had come to care about a great deal had been crying, upset over something. And if Ares was any kind of man, he'd find out why.  
  
Quickly, he placed index and middle finders of his right hand on his forehead, and willed himself to be a few feet behind her.  
  
And instantaneously, he was.  
  
The room he was in was dark, dimly lit only by the moonlight coming in through the large windows. The large bed and furniture marked the place as a bedroom, though it appeared to be a guest room by Ares judging. He could tell they were still in the same house, both from the design of the place and the ki signatures he felt below him, those belonging the party-goers yet dancing beneath them. Ares guessed that Tifa had run upstairs to one of the guest bedrooms, though he couldn't figure why.  
  
And at the sound of soft weeping and shallow breaths, Ares turned to look at the woman he had come to care about, and his heart broke to see her crying. She was standing with her back to him, not even aware that he was there, sounding like she was trying to compose herself, but failing.  
  
Gently, ever so gently, Ares attentively reached out with a hand to lightly touch Tifa on the shoulder, gently calling her name as he did so. "Tifa?"  
  
And as he touched her, she whirled around and hugged him fiercely, still crying as she buried her face against his chest. Ares' eyes flew wide at this, for he hadn't expected it. But he realized that Tifa was hurting right now, and more than anything else, she needed to be comforted. So, very gently, Ares wrapped one arm around her back as he just as gently stroked the back of her head, whispering softly into her ear that it was okay.  
  
She whispered something, so low that anyone without Ares' sensitive hearing would have missed it.  
  
"What's wrong with me?"  
  
Ares blinked in confusion, and quickly scanned Tifa with his various senses, looking for some abnormality, but finding none. "Tifa, there's nothing wrong with you."  
  
"THAT'S NOT TRUE," Tifa yelled with a fierceness that he hadn't expected, as she looked up to stair up at him, anguish written in her eyes that yet brimmed with tears. And she pounded against his chest with her fists. Though his body registered the sensation, it was like throwing a paper ball against an iron door, and he was completely unhurt.  
  
Physically anyway.  
  
After a few moments, her anger spent, Tifa leaned against him again and sobbed, "There has to be something wrong with me. Am I ugly? Stupid? He doesn't love me, so there has to be something wrong with me."  
  
Ares felt a large pit open up in his stomach as this started to make sense. "Cloud?"  
  
Tifa nodded. "I thought I loved him Ares," she said between sobs. "We spent our whole lives together, ever since we were just children, and I always felt something special between the two of us. I just never knew if it was a really strong friendship or love. I never felt that way about anyone else on Earth. No ONE! I knew he and Aeris liked each other a lot. I even remember the time Cat Sith made the prediction that they were perfect for each other. But after all we've been through, after everything that happened, I thought..." and she started crying again.  
  
Ares held her close to him, and gently pulled her head against his chest. Then, he heard a voice speak, one so kind, so calm and gentle that he didn't recognize it until he realized it was him that was speaking.  
  
"Tifa...there's nothing wrong with you. You're perfect."  
  
Tifa's eyes widened at this, and slowly she looked up at Ares, who stared long and deeply into her eyes before he continued.  
  
"Your perfect Tifa. In every way, in every possible way, you're perfect. In the last month we've spent together with you, I've looked and I've tried to find some flaw in you, and I couldn't. You're the kindest, sweetest, gentlest, most loving person I've ever met in my life. In every way that matters, in every way that's important, you were perfection."  
  
Ares didn't know where he had suddenly found the courage to say this, wherever it came from, it urged him to go on.  
  
"Any man would be thrice blessed to have your love Tifa. I can truly think of no higher honor or greater thing in all the world but to be able to walk with you all the days of your life. Normally, I wouldn't believe that a man that you show such attention to would choose another woman.  
  
"But I've seen Cloud and Aeris together Tifa, and it is so beautiful. I remember reading about soul mates, and I never thought I'd actually see such a pair, but I have. I look at Cloud and Aeris and I see two people so perfectly made for each other that it is fated for them to be together. There hearts beat together as one Tifa, their auras are so perfectly attuned to each other that when I see them they touch...I can't describe it, it's so wonderful.  
  
"Cloud does love you Tifa. I've seen it in the way he talks to you, the way you can make his calm demeanor turn into a smile. The way the two of you just talk for hours about things I just didn't understand. I was so jealous of him. I really was. But it was misplaced. He loves you Tifa, but he's in love with Aeris. They are truly meant for each other in ways I can't even comprehend. I've known it for a while now, and so have you. You just didn't want to admit it because Cloud was the only man you've really ever really loved, the only man you ever really had strong feelings for. But...  
  
Ares paused, trying to find the right words, but unwilling to stop, ere he lose what courage he had.  
  
"I didn't know a lot of things when I came to your world, I wasn't even sure what I believed in. But the things I saw, the things that happened, helped me to remember what I use to believe in, and Soul Mates, Eternal Love, that was one of those things. I believe with all my heart that there are two people, two souls in all of creation that are perfect for each other. And when those two souls meet, there is such happiness that words can't describe it. I believe Cloud and Aeris are two such people.  
  
"But, I.. I have thought that, perhaps, soul mates aren't limited by country or by planet, or perhaps, not even by dimensions. I thought...I hoped ...Tifa, I."  
  
It was only now that Ares realized how close they had become, his and Tifa's face. There lips, especially, were scarcely more than a hairs-breath apart. His nostrils were inflamed with her scent, his lips longing to taste hers.  
  
"Tifa, I..I don't have anything to offer you. Only myself, and the truth, and to a man without a past, the truth is one of the most important things in existence. And the truth is....I love you."  
  
And Tifa yet cried, but it was no longer tears of sadness. Instead, there was look on her face that Ares had not seen before. It was now, however, that Ares' courage failed him, for he knew not whether to go forward or go back, to advance or retreat, for he feared that one misstep would lose her forever.  
  
So he was surprised when Tifa made the choice for him, drawing him close, kissing him full on the mouth in a passionate embrace that Ares returned with every fiber of his being.  
  
There they stayed holding one another in the moonlight, the party forgotten, everything now forgotten, save for the presence of each other.  
  
And had anyone been watching the couple with the proper vision, they would have seen their souls flare up brightly to meet each other. Like two stars that grew to nova intensity to touch each other. Like two souls that had been searching their entire existences for each other, only to finally find what they were looking for.  
  
And for one perfect moment, all was right in the universe. 


	7. Chapter Six: The Second Step

Benja Monroe wiped his forehead with the rag he kept in his back pocket, the towel already damp from several such forehead wipes. He leaned against the wooden frame of his modest farm plow. Even in this age of technological wonders, it was the simpler tools that were still used to farm the land. He let his heart rate slow down and muttered a curse to the blazing heat that seemed to be raining down on him from the sun. Though it was only mid morning, with noon an hour or so away, the sun was still shining brightly in the sky and making it's presence known. Even though he had been a farmer all of his life, he still couldn't believe how hot it could get sometimes.  
  
As he sighed in resignation, he suddenly turned his head to gaze skyward, thinking that he had seen something out of the corner of his eye. Something that had seemed like a red gleam streaking across the blue morning sky.  
  
However, seeing nothing, he simply shrugged and returned to his work.  
  
A few minutes later, a loud noise echoed in the distance, sounding at once like an explosion, and at the same time, not quite an explosion. Beja clasped his hands over his ears as the noise was both unexpected and intensely loud. He again looked skywards and a puzzled look crossed his features as he again saw nothing out of the ordinary.  
  
"What the FUCK'S going on," he cursed to himself as he tried to make sense of what had just happened.  
  
***************************************  
  
Far above the farmer, and several thousand miles away by the time the sonic boom had been heard, the source of his confusion flew at nearly incomprehensible speeds, certainly faster than that of any man-made aircraft. Odder still was that this thing was a man cloaked in an aura of blazing redness, who shot through the sky at a velocity that made the speed of sound seem paltry by comparison. The sound barrier had shattered like glass before him as he soared through the heaves, leaving a trail of crimson in his wake.  
  
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"  
  
Ares' shout of unadulterated joy echoed through the sky as he roared through the air, his blazing ki aura leaving a scarlet trail of energy marking his path as he cut through the clouds. A broad smile was spread across his features, his loud whoop of happiness still traveling though the air and left far behind as he turned up the speed even more, the man reveling in the unmitigated freedom of flight.  
  
Several thousand miles away, in the room that had been his home for the last two and a half months, the reason for his happiness lay sleeping on his bed, a smile on her features.  
  
Ares let out another shout of joy and circled the planet again, taking less than a second to do so, though he didn't take note of it. He was too happy, lost in the of joy flying, the sheer exultation of being able to slip the jealous grasp of gravity and touch the sky amplified by the feelings he had for Tifa Lockeheart.  
  
At present, though, he slowed gradually, lessening the output of power until he was merely hovering in the air far above the Earth. He looked up and smiled, feeling the warmth of the sun touch his skin, and he spread his arms wide as if to embrace it and merely stood there in the sky, basking in the awesome warmness that filtered through the planets atmosphere. Clothed only from the waste down in his black spandex pants, Ares let the sunlight beat against his bare chest, and smile once more.  
  
If you had told Ares a month ago that he could possibly been this happy, he would have been very skeptical. Everything had gone uphill since his confession to Tifa. That night had been the first of many happy nights in each others company, nights that had been very close, intimate, and full of passion.  
  
Much like last night. Ares still smiled at that particular thought.  
  
Which made him wonder what the heck he was doing in the stratosphere sunbathing when he could be next to the woman he loved.  
  
With another sonic boom, he was gone.  
  
***************************************  
  
Tifa Lockeheart yawned softly as she walked out to the balcony, clothed only in the green mandarin style shirt Ares wears over his spandex, her modesty barely protected as her lissome legs poked out from the bottom of the shirt. She rubbed her eyes and went to lean against the ledge of balcony, gazing skywards.  
  
Ares had, of course, gone off for his early morning flight. Not that Tifa could blame him. After Ares had taught her how to fly, Tifa has spent so much time up in the clouds that she sometimes had to remind herself that she was suppose to walk most of the time.  
  
She let her mind drift back to the last couple of weeks, and smiled. She thought of that first night at the banquet, when Ares had, well, come just short of proposing to her. Still, she had to admit that, once he had said that, something had stirred in her. A feeling for this mysterious but pleasant man that had come out of nowhere. And she realized that she had been feeling it all along, she had been too focused on Cloud to realize it at the time.  
  
The next two weeks had been a time of getting to know each other again, but it was more fun for her this time. Instead of just showing a new friend around an unfamiliar area and bringing him up on current events, she had been showing her boyfriend to all the places she liked most in the city and, since he could fly, around the world itself.  
  
She sighed as she thought about that time Ares had flown her to the top of one of the tallest mountains in the world so that they could watch the sun set together. Tifa almost swooned as she recalled the sheer romance of the moment almost overwhelmed her. For a guy with no memory, he did remember how to be romantic.  
  
Tifa's face broke into a smile as a new sense she had developed over the last weeks altered her to the presence of approaching power. All her working out with Ares had drastically increased her power, speed, durability and she had picked up several new talents as well, including Ares' ability to detect energy. She glanced in the direction of the approaching power, the smile persisting as she recognized the energy signature immediately.  
  
And what to her wondering eye should appear, but a man sheathed in a bright red aura flying directly towards her. In mere moments he had closed the distance between them, and came to a dead stop about ten feet or so in front of her, his crimson aura dispersing as he did so.  
  
He hovered a moment or so, just watching her as the wind kicked up by his arrival tossed her hair about, billowing and swirling about her head in a way that made her look somehow even more angelic, which Ares would hardly have thought possible.  
  
And in the next second, she was in his arms and receiving a very long good morning kiss. And despite the fact that this was their official way of saying good morning to each other, it somehow never lost it's appeal.  
  
After they came up for air, Ares stared into Tifa's eyes, a smile present on his features as he said, "Good morning, gorgeous."  
  
" 'Morning handsome," Tifa replied, the pair addressing each other by their pet names for each other.  
  
"Sleep well," he asked.  
  
"Are you kidding," she said with a soft laugh. "After that six hour work out last night, I'm surprised I'm not still asleep."  
  
Ares thought fondly about their new nightly work out routine. That was one brand of exercise he had a feeling he wouldn't get tired of anytime soon.  
  
"Yes, I know," he said. "I would have woken you up to come flying with me, but you look so cute when you're asleep that I couldn't bring myself to do it. It would have been like destroying some priceless work of art."  
  
And that compliment earned him another kiss. Tifa never failed to smile whenever Ares said something like that, because she knew he wasn't saying it for any other reason than he thought it was true.  
  
"So," he said, his arms still wrapped around her "what's on the agenda for today?"  
  
"Well," Tifa said thoughtfully "we have that meeting today with Cloud and everyone else about the last few areas of Midgar that needs to be repaired, and then you've got that appearance you need to make at the children's hospital."  
  
Ares nodded, still a little uncomfortable with his celebrity status. The majority of people thought of him as something of a 'superhero', while a few of them still thought of him as a god. Still, when it came to visiting sick kids, the look in their eyes when he walked in made his status worth it. He would get tons of mail from the kids, including hand-drawn pictures of himself.  
  
Now after that, Ares couldn't help but visit these kids at least once a week.  
  
"After that," Tifa continued with a mock stern look "you, Mr. Warrior God are going to show me how to shoot a ki blast."  
  
"If I have to," Ares said in a voice filled with a resignation that was proven false by the smile on his face.  
  
"After that, I'm all yours," Tifa said.  
  
"Well," Ares said "what do you say to a night spent dining and dancing? There's this club that I heard about where the food is excellent, and the music can go from elegant to jazzy in a single song. How does that sound?"  
  
Tifa kissed him again on the lips. "That sounds wonderful," she said after they had finished. The man was living proof that being a master martial artist didn't mean you didn't also know how to treat a girl.  
  
The pair walked into their apartment together, their arms draped over each other's shoulder. Tifa turned to him and said, "Thanks for the lone of the shirt by the way. I'll get it back to you once I'm dressed."  
  
Ares smiled. "Take your time. It's not like I'm ever going to wash it again."  
  
Tifa laughed as she pushed him away. "Oh you!" Of a sudden, another, more playful look came over her face. "Well, if you like the shirt that much, you can help me out of it."  
  
Ares face turned a bright shade of red. Despite how 'familiar' he was Tifa, comments like that, and what they alluded to still made him blush something fierce  
  
"Well, I, um," he stammered out "I just...if I do that, it'll lead to something else, and.well, won't we end up late for that meeting with Cloud?"  
  
Tifa wrapped her arms around the back of his neck and stared into his eyes with a look so seductive that it would have turned homosexual men hetero and made women consider lesbianism. She then said three simple words that made Ares all but melt.  
  
"Let 'em wait."  
  
And as a slow smile spread over Ares face, Tifa leaned forward and whispered, ".but you'll have to catch me first."  
  
Then, she quickly kissed the startled Ares on the lips and flipped backwards with inhuman grace, retreating deeper into the apartment.  
  
"Wh-why you," Ares yelled, his startled voice turning to laugher as he chased after the woman of his dreams, her giggles of happiness leading him to her as she bounded and leapt about the room with grace and agility that would have made Spiderman envious.  
  
And as Ares chased after Tifa, he thought about how happy he was.  
  
And somewhere, deep in his psyche, a small part of him knew it wouldn't last forever.  
  
***************************************  
  
A loud explosion made Ares start, with the sound of battle cries filling the air as the reverbs of the explosion died. He looked around and found himself in a huge metal complex, alien and unfamiliar to him.  
  
Or was it? There was a familiarity about the place that tugged at the back of his mind, like he had been here before.  
  
Another explosion rocked the fortress (or was it a lab?), and Ares turned towards the sound. Several yards away, a group of men in colorful outfits were all attacking something he couldn't make out, something hidden behind the flurry of attacks the men rained down on it. He looked at them and watched in amazement at they all moved at speeds so quickly that, to a normal person, it would have appeared that hundreds of men were all attacking one target, when in truth there were only about 12 of them. He looked at them and saw that several of them wore an orange and blue gi, another wore some blue jumpsuit with white and gold armor, another was bald with a green monks outfit with..THREE EYES? And there was a green one with antenna and a purple gi and-  
  
Ares train of thought was interrupted as suddenly, the unseen thing they assaulted erupted in an explosion of power so bright that had Ares not turned his head, he would have been blinded. That forceful eruption of power sent them all hurtling backwards at faster than sound velocities. One of them shot straight towards the Warrior God (as people had started calling him) and he braced himself, preparing to catch the hurtling form.  
  
Only the form passed through Ares, as if the body had no more substance than a ghost might have.  
  
Ares winced as the blurred from slammed into the ground hard enough to make a small crater and kick up lots of debris. He looked down at his hands in confusion, only to find that they were translucent, the ground visible through them. He looked at the rest of his body, finding himself both clothed in his normal attired and only semi-visible.  
  
"Ares," he heard a strong, heroic voice yell over another explosion. "Are you all right?!"  
  
Ares turned at the sound of the voice. Someone here knew him? The voice sounded familiar, until Ares looked at the man that had called out. The man was a little over average height, but very strong, and Ares could feel the power radiating off of him. Clad in a torn orange and blue martial arts gi, surrounded in a glowing yellow aura, the man radiated sincerity and heroism, though Ares was a bit put off by the golden hair that seemed to defy gravity and stand straight up.  
  
Goku.  
  
The name came to Ares mind as he stared at the man. Was that his name? How did he know this.  
  
Ares started to open his mouth to say something, but he realized that Goku's stares of concern were not directed at him, but rather 'through' him. He turned around to see what Goku was looking out.  
  
There, lying stunned and bleeding on the ground, was himself.  
  
Ares blinked in disbelief, only to have the same confusing sight there to greet him when his eyes opened. The man who currently lying in small crater, as well as a pool of his own blood, was so perfect an image of him that he might have been staring at a mirror. And in his mind, Ares began to panic. What was going on? How was it that he was staring at himself? Was he dead? Having an out of body experience? Going insane?  
  
"No, NO! STOP!" Ares yelled to himself. Through sheer force of will he forced himself back from what had almost been a momentary lapse into madness. He calmed himself down and demanded his mind look at this situation rationally and clearly.  
  
After a moments though, Ares decided he wasn't having an out of body experience or was dead. For one thing, the body before him was still alive, though the 'Ares' in front of him look like he had just been beaten six ways to Sunday. He was also conscious, trying to get to his feet despite the apparent pain running through him. Since the body in front of him was still alive and moving and conscious, he couldn't be without his astral self or soul.  
  
Besides there was a disturbingly familiar feeling about all of this. Like he had been here before, experienced this already.  
  
"I must be dreaming," Ares decided "and somehow, I'm remembering a bit from my past." Though Ares found it disturbing that he was apparently remembering his past from a third person perspective. This memory itself was not at all calming either. Apparently, he and his friends were fighting some kind of battle, and-  
  
Another voice was heard over the battle, much more violence in it's tone.  
  
"Forget about him Kakarotto! Focus instead on theERRRAAAGGHH!!!!"  
  
Ares turned to see a shorter man in a blue jump suit and white armor get hit by a blast of jet black energy, slamming him against a wall, leaving him to slump against it, gripping an injured shoulder with one hand. The man had a scowl on his face, one that Ares could recall being almost a constant feature on the man. His hair and battle aura matched those of Goku, and slowly a name came to his mind.  
  
Vegeta?  
  
What on Earth was going on here? Who were they fighting, and why did he have a bad feeling that, if these guys were getting their butts kicked, that their opponent must be frightful indeed.  
  
Ares' hearing managed to pick up a noise behind him, and he glanced back to see that his 'other' self had risen to his feet, albeit very unsteadily. Ares was almost impressed with himself by the way, despite the numerous cuts and lacerations, swelling and apparently cracked bones, he had managed to get to his feet. It was nice to know he hadn't been a wimp prior to his memory loss.  
  
And then, a voice rose up over the sounds of chaos, one that made the very blood in Ares veins turn cold.  
  
"Wretched insects! You have ruined my perfect weapon! My ultimate creation is now tarnished thanks to you!"  
  
Ares wanted to turn around, to see who it was that had said that, to get some clear image of the person that had apparently tormented him and his friends. But he couldn't. For all his will and inner strength, something about that voice so terrified him that he couldn't bring himself to turn around.  
  
"I," Ares thought to himself "I will ..I will not..I WILL NOT BE A COWARD!" He screamed inwardly.  
  
Too late. Before he could turn, the voice spoke again.  
  
"But your victory will be IN VAIN!"  
  
And with that, raw power of a magnitude that would drive men insane left the voice and spend towards the Ares of the past, and in doing so, passed through the Ares of the present.  
  
Ares watched in abject horror as the beam passed through his body, the utter cold, vile evil the beam contained so palpable that it almost unhinged his mind.  
  
After the bolt passed through him, Ares collapsed to his knees, his hands clutching his chest where the bolt had passed through him. There had been no damage done to him, his form was as it had been before, but his mind and soul had just touched an evil so pure that Satan himself would have been given chills by it.  
  
He heard the bolt strike his other self, and looked up in time to see that self get thrown across the room like a puppet with it's strings cut. He could only watch as 'he' slammed into a very large and complex machine, one that also looked very familiar to him. Metal panels crumpled like wet paper as 'Ares' slammed into it, his arms still smoldering from trying to block the beam. For a brief second, nothing could be heard but the sound of the wires in the machine sparking.  
  
Then, somewhere in the lab, Ares heard a woman scream. "NO! The T.D.U.!" Ares could not turn away from the sight before him to look for the woman, but the word Bulma flashed through his mind. He could only watch as the machine hummed to life, and it's energies ripped into the Ares that he had once been. Pure white energy streamed out of the device, and seemed to infuse itself with every part of his body. And all through this, the man screamed a long baleful cry of pure agony that shook the foundations of the lab.  
  
And, in a bright flash of light, that Ares was gone.  
  
And from behind the present Ares, someone started laughing.  
  
About the same time, something grabbed the back of Ares neck and lifted him into the air.  
  
Despite the fact that he had witnessed events that he wished he could have altered, Ares took a small measure of comfort that he was merely dreaming, remembering, and that he was merely an observer here, immune to harm and safely able to regain part of his lost memory.  
  
That was apparently not the case. The grip on his neck was painful, even for a being as powerful as himself, and he reached back to do any of number of things to the hand grabbing him, preferably something involving a lot of pain being inflicted on said hand.  
  
However, as everything he had tried to touch before this, his hands passed through the arm, and though he couldn't see it, he could 'feel' his hands pass through the being, his body briefly touching the dark ki that lay within. It was like a normal human dunking his hands in a vat of liquid nitrogen. His eyes narrowed and he gritted his teeth, but he did not scream.  
  
That was when whatever had him spoke.  
  
"Foolish boy."  
  
Ares locked up again. Whatever had the voice that had paralyzed him earlier now had him by the neck, in a hold he couldn't apparently break because he couldn't interact with the hand gripping him. No matter how you looked at his position, he was in some serious trouble.  
  
"Did you really think you could escape me? Did you doubt my power to get you back? I have invested too much time and effort to let you so easily elude me."  
  
Ares thrashed about, trying to get free at all costs, and it wasn't just the pain in his neck. Deep in his mind, rooted deep in the very fabric of who he was, was utter terrified of the being behind. On a genetic level, the thing holding him scared him. And right now, Ares wanted nothing more to be free.  
  
Instead, the voice laughed. "Free? Did you truly have illusions of freedom. My poor boy, you have been sadly misinformed. As have these pitiful specimens."  
  
Ares was violently swung around to face another direction, and his eyes widened in horror. The warriors that had so valiantly been trying to defeat this thing lay on the ground, unconscious, bleeding and barely alive. They lay on the ground like broken toys, discarded by a child that had no more use for them.  
  
"They belong to me now."  
  
Suddenly, Ares was twisted around so that he could stare in the eyes of the thing that was holding him. Twin orbs of yellow and white light stared back at him, the softly glowing eyes staring into his own. They were all that he could see, all that he could focus on despite his attempts to look away at all cost. Like twin hot lances they bore through to the very center of his being.  
  
".AS DO YOU!"  
  
***********************************************  
  
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"  
  
Tifa awoke to the sound of Ares screaming. Well, screaming was putting it mildly. It was more like a howl of fear that shook every decorative item and piece of furniture within 100 feet.  
  
Even as she sat up to look at him, the screaming stopped. He was sitting up, his hands clasping each side of his head, his eyes still wide with horror, his naked skin covered in sweat. His breathing came out in shallow gasps, and Tifa could hear his heart beating so rapidly it sounded like a stampede of Chocobos.  
  
She gently lade a comforting hand on his shoulder, and felt him flinch underneath it. She didn't say anything. She couldn't really. In all the nights they had spent together, Ares had never once had a nightmare, and certainly never ever seen him display the level of fear she was seeing now.  
  
After a few moments, Ares placed a hand over the one Tifa had placed on his shoulder. His heart rater returned to normal, and soon, he turned to her and managed a weak smile.  
  
"Ares," Tifa started to ask, but he cut her off.  
  
"I'm okay," he said unsteadily. Neither of them believed it.  
  
He turned around and looked into Tifa's eyes, and felt better. But the dream yet haunted him. He gently took Tifa's hand off of his shoulder and held it with both of his own.  
  
"I need go flying for a while," he said finally. "Clear my head."  
  
"I'll go with you," Tifa started, but Ares shook his head.  
  
"No. Go back to sleep. I just had a bad dream, and a short flight in the night air will help my head clear."  
  
Tifa started to reply, but then she looked deeper into his eyes and saw that he was both truly scared and very serious.  
  
So instead, she leaned over and kissed him. "Don't be out too long."  
  
Ares nodded and got up, using his ki to summon his outfit to him, once again forming only the skin tight pants that he wore. He solemnly walked to the balcony, and after turning to look at Tifa one last time, flew off into the night.  
  
Tifa sat back in the bed and wrapped her arms around her bent legs, pulling them close to her. Whatever Ares had dreamt had scared her boyfriend out of his mind. For a brief second, all she had seen in his eyes were panic and fear. Ares had been very, very frightened. And now, so was Tifa.  
  
*************************************************  
  
A few moments later, Ares was several thousand miles away, flying towards a mountain peak he often came to for the purpose of thinking. Now however, thinking was the last thing he wanted to do. Thinking would only lead him back to his dream..  
  
"No," the thought to himself. "Not a dream. A dream mixed with a memory. That was how I came to be here." Even though that last part was both surreal and disturbing, Ares was certain everything before that had actually happened.  
  
He landed atop the mountain, standing on it's peak, at an altitude that the majority of sentient life would have a hard time breathing at.  
  
His black mane twisted and turned in the high winds, and Ares looked for a moment like an angry god, so grim was his demeanor.  
  
Then, without warning, cause or explanation, he pulled his fist backwards and punched forward, as if to strike the air in front of him with a punch that would disintegrate most matter. But instead of merely kicking up a powerful wind (which it did anyway), his fist seemed to strike something, but not on a physical level, on a metaphysical one.  
  
And like that, it was like the air before him broke and shatter, like the very fabric of what was had been punctured. What was left was a large white hole, one ten feet in diameter, with Ares arm at it's center, his are actually plunged up to his bicep in the circle. His arm seemed to vanish into it, for it did not protrude out from the other side.  
  
He stared into the whiteness, into the void that was standing before him, and his features became grimmer.  
  
With a sudden tug, he yanked his arm out of the white gateway, and the moment his hand left it, the whiteness shrank to the size of dime, then vanished altogether, and everything was now as it had been before.  
  
All except Ares.  
  
For now, he felt tears fall down his face as he roared to the heavens in bellow of anger that woke up children hundreds of miles away and shook the mountain he stood on. And several minutes later, after he his continual scream finally stopped. He took a deep breath, though the tears still came.  
  
"It's not fair," he muttered as he sank to his knees in defeat.  
  
*********************************************  
  
"I don't know what's wrong with him," Tifa confessed to her friends that sat around the meeting table. It was the morning after Tifa woke up to Ares screams of fear, and Ares had called in an emergency meeting of the people he considered his closest friends in the world.  
  
"This doesn't sound good," Cloud said, showing once again his overly developed ability to state the obvious. Still, it had been over two months since Ares initial arrival, and Cloud had seen him in more than one combat situation, both when a new Weapon had attacked the city and when the group had gone off on another little adventuring quest to keep their fighting skills intact. And in all the battles they had been in, in every situation Cloud had seen Ares in, the man had never once showed anything remotely like the fear Tifa described. Whatever could causes such fear in Ares would most likely cause other people, even men like Cloud, to shit themselves silly.  
  
"Perhaps," Vincent said, "he did not see some creature or being that scared him, but remembered something from his past that he did not like. Something that he had done that he had not thought himself capable of. Something -"  
  
"NO!," Tifa yelled at the top of her lungs as she brought both her fists down on the metal meeting table, denting it badly. Whatever else her time spent with Ares had done, she had definitely grown stronger, as well as faster, tougher and more agile. But a tougher exterior did not make what Vincent had just implied easier to take.  
  
"Ares is a good, kind and gentle man Vincent! I don't care what you think, he's not capable of whatever you're implying! He's NOT YOU Vincent, and he- "  
  
Tifa suddenly realized both what she was saying and at what volume she was saying it at. Covering her mouth in shock and looked away from her friends, refusing to meet their eyes. "I..I'm sorry Vincent. I didn't mean."  
  
"It is alright, Tifa," the dark man with the dark past said, his normally cold voice now touched with a bit of compassion. "You did not mean offense, and in truth, I hope you accept my apologies. I was wrong to assume that about Ares."  
  
The door to the meeting room opened suddenly. "Don't be too sure of that Vincent. I'm not." Ares walked into the room, fully clothed in his normal outfit, his red cape flowing behind him. "I'm not too sure of anything anymore."  
  
**************************************  
  
".and then I woke up screaming," Ares said as he finished his tale. Dead silence followed, as all members of the group thought on his words. What Ares had described had been unsettling to say the least. They now knew how he had come here, but what little he now knew only brought more questions to mind.  
  
"And you have no idea who that dark presence was," Aeris asked in a calm voice.  
  
"None," Ares replied. "And it's not for a lack of trying. I've been wracking my brain all morning in an attempt to remember anything, but all I get is a feeling of fear and dread. Which only makes me angrier at my current situation and more determined to find out the truth."  
  
Quiet once again fell on the group, Ares last statement still prominent in his mind. All of them wore a look of confusion, except for Tifa. Her face was filled with fear, for she had a guess of what Ares was thinking, and that thought scared her.  
  
However, it was Cloud that asked the question on everyone's mind. "What do you intend to do?"  
  
Ares looked at the group, the collection of friends he had made in his short time here. Especially at Tifa. And his heart broke as he finally found the words that he didn't want to say. "Early this morning, I attempted something that I had an idea that I could do, but never had reason to try. I punched a hole in the dimensional fabric of reality."  
  
The cigarette in Cid's mouth feel to the table as the engineer couldn't believe what he had just heard.  
  
"Come again," Yuffie asked in confusion, quantum physics a bit beyond the teenage ninja's grasp.  
  
"There's a zone of whiteness that separates your universe from all other parallel universes," Ares explained. "In the time I spent in that whiteness, I became very familiar with it and how it worked. By attuning my ki to it and throwing a very precise punch, I'm able to open a whole into that 'White Zone' and should be able to journey from one dimension to another, until I find my home dimension. Once there, I can find out what my dream meant, as well as the rest of my past."  
  
There was dead silence in the room again, until the disbelieving Cid spoke up. "But, there's supposedly an infinite number of dimensions out there? How will you know which one is yours? Do you even know where you're going?"  
  
Ares shook his head. "No. I have no idea where my home world is. I'll know it when I get there though, since my memory gave let me glean the ki signatures of my friends and my opponent. All I have to do is find a world that has my friends ki or that dark ki that belonged to that evil presence, and I'll know when I'm home."  
  
"What about us," Tifa asked quietly.  
  
Ares looked at her, trying to look as reassuring as he could. "I can come back here whenever I want Tifa. I've got the dimensional 'feel' of this universe memorized. So don't worry. Once I find my home world and sort everything out, I'll be back."  
  
"But how long will that take," Tifa asked in a soft voice.  
  
Ares couldn't meet her eyes. "I don't know. I'll be searching blindly for my home world. It could take days, months. Maybe even years. There's so may universes to search through that I-"  
  
"I'm going with you," Tifa said in a strong voice, standing up as she did so for emphasis.  
  
"We'll all go with you," Cloud said, rising as well, along with everyone else. The rest of the group began to utter similar statements when Ares suddenly shouted.  
  
"NO! No one is coming with me and that's final," he paused, letting the shock from their faces lessen a bit before continuing. "All of you have other responsibilities to this world and this city that come before everything else. I could be gone for a very long time, and you can't tell me that you think this city will last that long without you. Your world was almost destroyed in the space of a month. I'm not essential to this world's survival. The rest of you are. I have to do this alone."  
  
"Ares," Tifa said in a voice that seemed to be on the verge of breaking.  
  
"I'm sorry Tifa," Ares said in voice filled with regret. "I have to do this. My friends might be dead, my homeworld put in terrible danger while I've been here. I have to find out what happened. I'm doing this as much for you as I am for my world. You don't deserve an incomplete man who can't even remember his last name. If I do this, I'll finally be whole, someone deserving of you."  
  
"I don't care about your past," Tifa yelled at the top of her lungs. "I care about you!"  
  
Ares could barely look at her. The hurt in her eyes and on her face was more than he could stand. And as much as he didn't want to say what he had to, he did anyway.  
  
"I'm sorry Tifa, but I have to do this."  
  
Ares could almost hear Tifa's heart shatter. He quickly looked away, otherwise he might change his mind.  
  
"Ares," Cloud said, breaking the uncomfortable silence that lingered in the aid "You're right. As much as we'd all like to, we can't go with you. All we can really do is wish you luck and pray for your safe return."  
  
"Thank you," Ares said gratefully.  
  
"When'er you plan'n on leaving," Barret asked cautiously.  
  
Ares sighed. "Soon. A couple of hours at the most. I can't afford to let another moment pass. It's already been 10 weeks since I've arrived here, and there's no telling what's happened in my absence."  
  
Tifa just stared at him, a look of utter disbelief on her face. Ares glanced at everyone in the room and said apologetically "I realize this is very sudden for all of you, and-"  
  
" 'Sudden'?"  
  
Ares turned to the person who had just spoken. Not surprisingly, it was Tifa.  
  
" 'SUDDEN'? Ares, telling your boss that you're quitting your job is sudden. Calling someone to let them know you're in jail or the hospital is sudden. TELLING SOMEONE THAT YOU'RE LEAVING THIS REALM OF EXISTENCE FOR THE FORSEEABLE FUTURE IS A LITTLE MORE THAN SUDDEN!"  
  
Tears were streaming down Tifa's faces as she yelled at the man she loved. Ares could only stare back at her, his eyes revealing the depths of his pain to her.  
  
Without another word, Tifa ran out of the room, pushing past Ares, refusing to hear another word.  
  
Ares reached out a hesitant hand, as if reaching out to Tifa despite the fact that she was already gone. His hand clenched into a fist, and for a moment the urge to hit something became overwhelming. Still, he restrained himself, only sighing in resignation as the very thing he didn't want to happed had happened.  
  
"Cloud. Aeris. Everyone. I have to go now. Get myself mentally and physically prepared for what's to come. In two hours I'll be back to say my goodbyes and then leave. Please find Tifa and tell her that for me."  
  
"You're not going after her," Cloud asked.  
  
"No. I need to focus my energies on the coming trials, go through my equipment and generally just get ready. I'll just have to hope that Tifa's here when I get back."  
  
Without another word, Ares placed his index and middle fingers of his right hand on his forehead and concentrated. Then, in an instant, he was gone.  
  
************************************  
  
In an open plain far from civilization, Ares materialized. He slowly removed his fingers from his forehead, pleased that he had advanced the Instantaneous Movement Technique to the point that he could teleport to any place within visual range or that he could clearly remember in addition to places where he could sense a persons power level. It was pretty much the only thing he was pleased with at this moment.  
  
He still couldn't believe how badly that situation with Tifa had gone, and he realized it was his bluntness that was to blame for it. Despite his intelligence and familiarity with language (over twelve of them, actually), he sometimes cursed his inability to wax poetically or speak with the elegance people like Aeris could.  
  
He tried not to think about it. Tried not to think about anything but preparing for the long journey that lay before him and how best to prepare for it. Fortunately, the technology of his birth world was apparently significantly more advanced than that of the world he was on. He reached down to his belt and pressed a button on it, causing a compartment on it to open up, revealing a small case. He removed it and flipped the lit open to reveal five small capsule like objects, each marked with a number and a small plunger on the top of them.  
  
He removed the one marked '3', depressed the plunger and tossed the capsule onto the ground a few feet in front of him. The capsule had barely settled on the ground when it suddenly seemed to explode into a cloud of yellow gas. When the yellow fog cleared, a large refrigeration unit the size of a one story house was in front of him.  
  
Ares marveled at the technological genius it must have taken to invent a gas that shrank an object down to the size of a small pebble, which also displaced most of the objects mass so that the thing within the capsule didn't weight it's original weight.  
  
He opened the door to what was essentially a refrigerator large enough to walk in. As he entered, his breath frosted and hung in the air like a mist. He checked over his supplies again, and found that he had enough food and water in here to last him at least 6 months. Though he hoped that he wouldn't be on this trip quite that long, he nevertheless felt the need to be prepared.  
  
He checked everything three times and was finally satisfied that he wouldn't be starving to death on his long journey, so he walked outside the refrigeration unit, shut the door and pressed a red button located on one wall. Again there was a flare of yellow gas and when it cleared this time, the capsule had returned to it's former size. Ares picked it up and placed it back in the case. Ares glanced at the other two capsules, not feeling the need to check them. Unlike the #3 capsule, the others didn't have food or perishable items. One capsule actually contained a two story house to sever as a portable home, completely furnished with all the comforts one would expect from such a place. The other contained a one room building that served as a medical bay and laboratory, complete with all manner of medical supplies.  
  
Ares slipped the case back into his belt and sat down on the ground in a meditative position. He began to focus his mind and his power inward, readying himself for what was coming. He channeled his thoughts on the techniques he would need in the coming days, as well as the power signatures he would be looking for.  
  
Time passed, and soon it was almost time to leave. Reluctantly, Ares rose to his feet, his mind seeking out the ki signatures of the group. He was as mentally, physically, spiritually and technically prepared as he could be for the mission he was about to undertake.  
  
"But it's not what I'm taking with me that's causing me so much inner turmoil," Ares thought to himself as he placed two fingers on his forehead. "It's what I'm leaving behind."  
  
And with a thought, he was gone.  
  
**********************************************  
  
He reappeared in the midst of his friends, who were once again gathered in the meeting area of their city hall. They all looked very grim and solemn, Vincent somehow looking more grim than usual. He scanned the group, but saw no sign of Tifa.  
  
"Wonderful," Ares thought to himself. He had so crushed her feelings that she wasn't even going to say goodbye to him. Ares felt like the biggest heel in the universe right now.  
  
He looked at each of the people here. Cloud, Aeris, Cid, Barret, Vincent, Red XIII, Cat Sith and Yuffie. All of them had, in one way or another, become his friends over the last few weeks.  
  
Well, he had learned to tolerate Yuffie.  
  
Still, a lump formed in his throat as he tried to figure out what to say to them. He had never said goodbye in this way before, or at least he never recalled that he had. Which wasn't to odd, considering his memory.  
  
Cloud saw the unease in his friends face and despite himself, smiled. His friend clearly was at a loss of words. So in an act of friendship, Cloud stepped forward and spoke.  
  
"Ares, I think I can speak for everyone here when I say we wish you weren't going. You're a good guy. Hell, you saved our entire planet, helped rebuild our city and if nothing else, kept our lives interesting." A few chuckles were heard at that remark, and even Ares smiled a bit despite the moment.  
  
"I think we all understand why you're going as well, me a little better than the rest. It's hard not to know your past, and worse to find out things that you thought were true. I hope your quest for your past goes better than mine did."  
  
With that, Cloud held out a hand, which Ares took and shook. "Thanks Cloud. I appreciate that."  
  
Urged on by this, the other members of the group each said their goodbyes as well. Some said it with eleqouent words like Aeris and Red XIII. Others were a bit more physical about it, like the hug from Cat Sith's moogle or Barret's powerful slap on the back. And Yuffie even got him to smile by asking him to bring back any treasure he found, which got a 'YUFFIE!' from the other members.  
  
Ares felt better about leaving now. Not good, but better. His friends understood why he was leaving and were wishing him luck on his journey. He only hoped it would be one that he would return from.  
  
Still, the fact that Tifa was not here weighted heavily on his heart. Of all the people on this world that he would miss, it would be-  
  
The door to the meeting room opened suddenly, and in walked Tifa Lockheart. Two things were readily apparent about her, the look of determination on her face, and the outfit she was wearing. It was an outfit that was identical to Ares' own uniform save for three things. One: her mandarin shirt was white, not green. Two: She wore no cape. Three: She wore no headband. Other than, the uniforms appeared to be identical, though from the way the outfit fit snuggly over her figure, Ares couldn't help but think how it looked a lot better on her than it did on him.  
  
Without a word, Tifa marched up to Ares, put both of her hands on her hips and looked him straight in the eyes. "I'm coming with you," she said in a firm, unbending voice "And you don't have a problem with that."  
  
Ares started to say something, to protest that it was too dangerous for her to come along and that he might not even survive his journey. But before he could, he thought for a moment. Tifa was a capable fighter, even more so because of the training he had given her. She was smart, creative, and would be useful in a fight. She was an experienced adventurer who's duties here could easily be given to someone else. His quest would be extremely lonely without any companionship. From the tone in her voice, it would take physical force to restrain her from coming with him. And most of all, Ares loved her more than live itself.  
  
Did he really want to argue with her?  
  
Ares smiled. "No, I don't."  
  
"Good," Tifa said as she returned the smile, then gracing Ares with both a hug and a kiss.  
  
"Love the outfit, by the way," Ares said after they had finished.  
  
"Well, I figured if we were going to be traveling together, we should match. But, a girl has to keep her own sense of style, right?"  
  
Ares leaned his forehead against hers and whispered softly, "I love you."  
  
"I love you too," Tifa said back, just as softly.  
  
With one arm still wrapped around Tifa's waist, Ares looked at the rest of the group. "You knew about this, didn't you?"  
  
Cloud grinned. "We might have been informed that Tifa needed a few more moments to get that outfit together."  
  
Aeris slipped her arm around Clouds and said, "We also might have been asked to keep you busy while said outfit was being finished."  
  
Ares smiled and glanced down at Tifa. "That ki technique I taught you?"  
  
"Yep," Tifa said. "Same one you used to fix your outfit that first day you woke up. I'm not as fast as you are, though, it took me more than an hour to put this together."  
  
"It was worth the work. You look great."  
  
"Aw, thanks."  
  
Still shaking his head, Ares looked at his friends, then back at Tifa. "You've said your goodbyes already?"  
  
Tifa nodded. "Yes. I'm ready to go whenever you are."  
  
"Well, let's get this show on the road then."  
  
And with that, Ares used his free hand to strike the very fabric of the universe and once again create a white circle that stood in mid air. Several gasps of awe were made, as even this group of heroes had never seen anything like this before.  
  
Ares turned once more to the group. "Take care of yourselves! I expect this place to be in once piece when I get back!"  
  
Tifa blew a kiss to her friends. "See you guys later!"  
  
The group responded with similar goodbyes. And after a moment of silence, Ares and Tifa plunged into the whiteness, vanishing from site. The disk began to shrank the very second they were through it, shrinking to the size of a dime, and then simply popping out of existence.  
  
Silence filled the room, each of the heroes there unsure of what to do or how to react.  
  
All except Aeris. She knew exactly what was appropriate when your best friend leaves with her inter-dimensional boyfriend to try and find his place of origin in a vast and dangerous multiverse.  
  
She prayed.  
  
*******************************************  
  
Alarms suddenly went off. That in and of itself was not an unusual occurrence, as that usually meant that their was trouble that needed his attention, and that was usually a given. However, the man known simply as Grey listened the alarm, and his eyes widened in startlement, hoping that what he was hearing was wrong. Each alarm for each possible emergency that could possibly happened had been given it's own distinct frequency that he could pick up and identify fairly simply.  
  
He dropped the half eaten breakfast on his plate as he raced over to his rather large computer terminal. He examined the data that was currently being shown on the numerous screens.  
  
He checked the figures. They were accurate. He did something he rarely ever did and double checked them, then triple checking them.  
  
All the results were the same. Grey ran his fingers through his long black curly hair and breathed out a long sigh.  
  
"Damnit," he muttered under his breath. He started punching up various keys on the computer, calling up various protocols and designs he had made long ago in case such an emergency came about. He made a mental note to contact all of his agents and be sure that they were on standby.  
  
Something big was coming and he would not be unprepared for it.  
  
*****************************************  
  
Terra Branford slammed into the ground, cursing the pain that ran up and down her body as she did so. One hand instinctively went to clutch here injured ribs, covered with a red medieval style leather armor that wasn't doing a good job of protecting her. Not that the slender green haired woman could really blame the armor. It had never been designed to take the kind of punishment it was being subjected to.  
  
Suddenly, the walls of the chamber she was in reverberated as the cackling, maniacal laughter that had haunted her since she was a child shook the foundations of the fortress in which Terra and her friends had come to do battle with a man that had become a god.  
  
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA," the voice roared with glee. "You fools actually thought you could come and defeat me in my fortress, in the heart of my empire, where I am strongest? I may keep you alive based on your entertainment value alone. To think that any mortals, no matter how powerful or skilled could best a god is sheer lunacy. And they once called ME crazy. HAHAHAHAHA!"  
  
Terra looked up at the man that hovered several dozen feet above the floor of the large room they occupied, and shuddered. In a room carved from solid stone large enough for an army to camp in it, an angle hovered in the center, though this was clearly no messenger from Heaven. Though gifted with beautiful feathered wings that spanned over two yards, garbed in flowing robes of almost holy elegance, possessing incredibly handsome features and long flowing golden hair, they did not deter from the look of madness in his eyes that shined like a doorway to Hell itself.  
  
He had been a man once. Long ago, garbed in flowing yellow robes, with a face so pale, garnished with such outlandish make up that he had appeared to be a mad jester. If only he had been a deranged joker and not crafty wizard with ambitions of world domination. He had been a general in the most powerful army on Earth, commanded legions of troops and was feared by over 2/3rds of the worlds populace. It hadn't been enough. He had gone so far as to actually discover a way to unify himself with the source of all magic, making him the single most powerful being on the planet.  
  
He was Kefka. He was all powerful.  
  
And now all that stood between him and total global, perhaps universal domination was 12 men and women that refused to let him win.  
  
Even as Terra tried to rise to her feet, the other members of her adventuring party that were still conscious charged to her defense.  
  
Without a word, a battle cry, or even a audible hint that they were there, three men each let fly their trademark projectile weapons.  
  
Locke Cole, treasure hunter by name, thief by reputation, and angered beyond words that this insane clown would threaten his friend, threw three dirks at the man-god, each enchanted with runes that made them more powerful and deadly than they appeared. He hated to lose them, as he had searched long and hard for them, but he hated the idea of this man winning far worse. He had lost too many women that he cared for to let this bastard destroy Terra or Celes.  
  
Along side him, clad in a garment so black it might have been cut from a moonless night sky, the ninja Shadow launched several shurikens at his world's tormentor. At one point, the lonely night warrior had closed off his heart to the world around him and become a grim blade for hire. But this group had changed him, broken the walls around his heart and made him want to fight for a world worth living in. And he'd be damned to the darkest, deepest pit of Hell itself before he let this madman destroy it.  
  
Last of them was Setzer, a man who had been both a captain of an airship and gambler his entire life. He had fought against odds before, but none quite as one sided as these odds. But as bad as the odds were now, as he hurled several razor sharp playing cards that cut threw the air with amazing accuracy, he knew that the odds of a world controlled by Kefka being a pleasant one were far, far worse.  
  
Each of the men were the best example of their respective stations in life. Had they been aiming at a formal bull's-eye target, each would have hit dead center.  
  
Unfortunately, they weren't aiming at a bull's-eye. Without turning from Terra, Kefka raised a hand in the direction of the incoming projectiles. Mere inches before they reached said hand, the weapons stopped in mid air, hovering in place as the mad god smiled. Then, with a flick of his wrist, the weapons did an about face and flew back towards their owners at twice the speed they had been thrown.  
  
"SHIT," Locke cursed as he dodged to the side, his own dirks missing his head and chest by scant millimeters. The short daggers hit the walls of the fortress and burrowed themselves over ten feet into the solid stone. Locke mentally breathed a sigh of relieve that his reflexes were still in top shape.  
  
Setzer likewise dodged, but he was not as nimble as the thief and while four of his cards missed him, three of them made glancing cuts in his arms and legs, causing a spray of blood to shoot out. He fell to the ground in pain and wished not for the first time that he was a mage.  
  
Shadow stood his ground, and drew his ebony sword from it's sheath, the weapon curving outward to find the incoming shurikens and deflecting them away from man that wielded it. The dark man's mood became darker still as he glared at the winged harbinger of his worlds doom. Yet before he could act further, Kefka gestured again with his hand, causing a wagon sized ball of fire to fly towards the still reasonably close trio. The ninja leapt into the air just in time to avoid the blazing ball, even as Locke and Setzer managed to roll out of harms way, but as it struck the ground, the ball erupted in a torrent of flame and concussive force that hit each man, sending them flying in each a separate direction, singed but not aflame. However, the force of the blast, combined with the heat, left each man unconscious before he hit the ground.  
  
Once again, Kefka laughed. "Such amusing toys. To think you came here preaching of the virtues of man kind and the indomitable human spirit. Compared to my power, your spirit is nothing! Your courage and virtue? LESS than nothing. Your beliefs in your own power are proven false by the sorry state of your little group!"  
  
And in his own way, he was correct. Twelve men and women had come in, prepared to defeat him, having endured agony and tragedy of the most trying kind to reach this moment. And in the space of ten minutes, all twelve lay sprawled out on the floor, some unconscious, some merely stunned and trying to rise to their feet, but not a one of them were on their feet.  
  
Until slowly, painfully, Terra lifted herself to her feet, calling the mystic power that was her birthright into her hands. She had to buy her friends a few moments to recover, and if it cost her her life to do so, then so be it.  
  
"Poor, poor little girl," Kefka said with a 'tut-tut-tut' added on. "Do you seriously think that your half-breed nature makes you a match for me? Do you-"  
  
But the mage-god's words were cut off as a white circle roughly 10 feet in diameter formed in the middle of the 30 feet between them, a gloved hand protruding from the center of the circle. In a moment, two figures stepped out of it, a man and woman, both strangely dressed by the standards of this world, and indeed, but the standards of the world they had just left. As soon as they were out of the portal, it winked out of existence.  
  
There was a moment of complete and utter silence as all conscious party members and Kefka were totally baffled by this turn of events.  
  
"Wow, what a weird place," Tifa said. "It reminds me of the inside of the mountains outside my home town of Nibelheim."  
  
Ares nodded as he looked around the place, his eyes widening as he saw the room littered with unconscious or semi-conscious forms, some bleeding badly. Ares looked around and saw that the only people on their feet were, apparently, a woman in some odd type of battle armor and a guy in robes with wings. Ares reached out and felt great power in everyone here, especially the guy in the center of the room, but only one of them was a strong 'ki' signature. The rest of them had some kind of 'power' in them, but it wasn't something Ares could identify off the top of his head.  
  
"Um, excuse me," Ares said politely "But what's going on he-" But before he could finish his question, a bolt of lighting leapt from the hand of the winged man, catching Ares both flatfooted and square in the chest, knocking him backwards with such force that he was imbedded two feet into the wall of the fortress.  
  
"How DARE you interrupt me when I'm speaking," Kefka roared in anger.  
  
"Magic," Ares grunted as he eyed the winged man, the power signature recognizable now. "Why did it have to be magic?"  
  
Ares was, overall, a rational man. He liked things that could either be explained scientifically or philosophically. Magic was something that couldn't be explained by either. It was simply there, and somehow, weaving an arcane pattern in the air or saying a word or thinking a though could make it bend to your whims and do things. Ares had studied it while on Tifa's world, and simply couldn't understand what the heck it was. However, he was familiar with a few points on it. The one that applied right now was that magical phenomena didn't react to natural matter in a normal way. IE, a lightning bolt shouldn't have hurt Ares. However, the mystic one that he had just gotten plastered with had hurt him. A LOT. And now, he was really ticked off.  
  
"YOU JERK!"  
  
But not half as mad as Tifa was. Kefka barely had time to blink before the nubile and nimble martial artist had leapt up into the air until she was eye-level with him, and then proceeded to deck him so hard in the face that he actually was sent flying backwards until he crashed into the fore long wall opposite Ares. Everyone in the room save Tifa blinked in surprise, Kefka included.  
  
Ares pulled himself out of the wall and glanced over Terra and asked, "Hi. Can I assume that from his dialogue and lousy sense of manners that he's the bad guy here?"  
  
Terra nodded, finally overcome her surprise. "Uh, yes he is. But who are-"  
  
The room was abruptly filled with light as Kefka exploded out of the wall, flying towards Tifa like a vengeful god. "You miserable little FLEE! NO ONE AFFRONTS THE PERSONAGE OF-"  
  
But he was cut off as suddenly Ares materialized in front of him, his fist introducing itself to Kefka's face in every way but gentle. Kefka flew backwards, but managed to stop himself in mid air before he slammed into another wall. He looked up to see Ares, his face set in such a grim visage of anger that he might as well been the devil himself.  
  
"No one, and I mean NO ONE insults my girlfriend and doesn't pay for it," Ares said in a voice that sounded like rolling thunder. With that, his battle aura flashed into existence, the crimson energy writhing around him like a fire.  
  
Tifa folded her arms in front of her chest and smiled wickedly. "Oh, you are SO in for it now."  
  
Without another word, Ares launched forward at speeds close to that of light, appearing right in front of Kefka to knee him right in the stomach, contorting the dictator's face with pain. He followed the attack with a double fisted slam to the back of Kefka's head, driving him into the floor. Still not done with him, Ares brought his right foot up to catch Kefka in the chin, snapping his head backwards and lifting him off of the ground and into the air. He seemed to hover there momentarily before Ares launched a flurry of punches at speeds that it looked like he had suddenly sprouted 30 arms and was hitting Kefka simultaneously with all of them. For seconds he relentlessly pounded the living tar out of the mage-god, not letting the magic user concentrate for a moment on anything but the enormous amount of pain he was in.  
  
Deciding his foe had had enough, Ares grabbed him by the throat with his left hand while he readied his right hand to deliver the finishing strike. He momentarily wondered if he was justified in killing this man. Despite his slandering of Tifa's good name and the assault with a lightning bolt, he only had circumstantial evidence and bad dialogue that this man was evil. Deciding to err on the side of caution, he reached out with his mind to touch Kefka's, using a ki born telethapthic ability to look into the heart, mind and soul of the person he was battling.  
  
What he saw so sickened him that he decided immediately that this man needed killing.  
  
However, the split second pause proved to be enough.  
  
"STOP," Kefka intoned. And Ares did, much to his surprise. He tried to move, but found himself paralyzed, completely and utterly locked in place. He strained as hard as he could, fought with every fiber of his being, but he remained frozen like a statue.  
  
"Now then," Kefka said, regaining his composure. "Where was I? Oh yes," he said as he raised up a hand to catch a fist that had seemingly materialized out of nowhere. Connected to that fist was a very angry but now very shocked Tifa Lockheart.  
  
"The flee," Kefka continued. "I believe I owe you something." With that, Kefka's eyes glowed a bright yellow as he intoned , "FALLEN ONE."  
  
Suddenly, it was as if every erg, ever bit of power that had had just moments go flowed so powerfully within the young woman vanished, to be replaced by an emptiness. Tifa fell to her knees, then falling down altogether, trying desperately to get back up, but lacking the strength to do so. She couldn't even raise her head off of the ground enough to look at the cackling madman above her.  
  
"Hmmm," Kefka thought aloud. "You know, you're quite lovely. Perhaps I'll keep you, Terra and Celes to be the start of my harem. I promise it'd be a very pleasant existen-URK!"  
  
Kefka's words were cut off as two white gloved hands suddenly wrapped themselves around his throat and lifted him up off the ground. He turned to see a very angry Ares who proceeded to fly straight up and slam Kefka into the roof of the room, the entire fortress shaking as he did.  
  
"YOU. WILL. NOT. TOUCH. HER," Ares gritted through clenched teeth. After realizing that physical might was not going to free him fro Kefka's spell, Ares had begun to fight it with his Ki as well, pitting that energy against Kefka's mystic might. And though he had been making some headway, it hadn't really made a difference until Kefka had made that harem comment. That had caused so much rage in Ares that his ki had risen to a high enough level to free him. It had also risen to such a level that Kefka realized that, god or not, he was in danger of losing his life.  
  
So, he decided to let Ares see what true power was like.  
  
"Ul-ULTIMA," he managed to yell out despite the crushing grip Ares had on his windpipe.  
  
And just like that, Ares world became filled with pain. A globe of energy had formed around him that contained the purest, most primal magical energies in creation, and hit Ares like a star going nova. For seconds, Ares writhed in the its grip, the overwhelming power and pain hitting him from all sides until, with a mighty yell, his aura flashed into existence again and this time pushed outward with such force that it dispelled Kefka's power in a blinding flash of light.  
  
However, so weak was he by his expenditure of power that it took but a single might punch from Kefka to send him plummeting to the ground, making a nice sized crater when he landed.  
  
Kefka rubbed his sore throat with a free hand while he pointed his free hand at the stunned Ares. "You're clearly the mightiest being I have ever come across, but even you cannot stand against my full power. Prepare to-"  
  
A blinding flash of light suddenly robbed Kefka of his vision, even as bolt of energy slammed into his chest, knocking him back into the ceiling.  
  
Below him, two brothers stood on either side of the fallen Ares, one dressed in royal battle armor with a long cape, holding the technological device that had produced the light. The other was dressed in a simple purple shirt and white pants, his hands smoking from the energy bolt he had just fired from them. They were the twin princes of the country of Figaro, named Edgar and Sabin respectively. One was an engineer of unparalleled genius while the other was the best martial artist on his world, or was until Ares and Tifa arrived. While both men were very different from each other, they were bonded by a love for each other, their country, and their world. And woe to him that tried to do harm to anything they loved.  
  
Kefka's sight quickly returned, and he glared at the men beneath him. "Ah, the upstart princes. I would have thought the two of you would have known when to stay down."  
  
Sabin shrugged. "What can I say, us martial arts masters have to stick together."  
  
Edgar nodded with a roguish smile. "And genius or not, I don't think anyone's ever accused me of being overly sensible."  
  
"Then maybe this will teach you the error of your foolish ways," Kefka said as he fired a bolt of lighting at the pair. However, scant seconds before it hit them, the bolt arced away at the last second, instead striking a sword held by the trim figure of a woman garbed in green and white armor. Her name was Celes, and her special talent lay in her ability to absorb magic into her, even if the spell was aimed at someone else. She had once fought alongside Kefka as a fellow general in the army of the king they served, but the man's cruelty and the injustices being done to the people had caused her to sever her ties with the Empire and form new ones, closer ones with friends and people that cared about her, especially one Locke Cole. And she was not going to let her friends be hurt.  
  
Ares and Tifa had done their part. The weary warriors had all been given a chance to recover, and were now rallying again against their foe. One such man was Cyan, an elder samurai of a kingdom Kefka had poisoned, leaving him a man without a home, a city or a family. The honorable man had sworn vengeance on the one who had caused his misery, and now seemed like a good time to pay him back with interest.  
  
A quick glance at Sabin let the younger warrior in on his plan, and as one, the samurai and martial artist leapt towards their foe, both preparing their most powerful attacks.  
  
"QUADRA SLAM," Cyan shouted, drawing his katana, the spiritual power within him flaring to life to surround the blade.  
  
"BUM RUSH," Sabin yelled, channeling his chi into his body, preparing for his ultimate strike.  
  
And suddenly, it was as if Kefka was being attacked by a veritable army of twins, for where there had been one Cyan, there was now four images of him, and all four struck him at the same time, the swords biting deep into his flesh. In the same moment, Sabin became a blur, circling around Kefka at fantastic speeds, leaving a trail of afterimages, striking with all the speed and furry of Ares previous assault. The men hacked and hued, swung and struck in a relentless onslaught that they planned only to end when their foe was dead.  
  
Below, Shadow rose uncomfortably to his feet. "This wasn't going to work," he realized. Brute force might be enough to win the day, but it would take all of them to muster enough force to beat Kefka. There had to be another.  
  
And then his eyes caught sight of Ragnarok.  
  
The blade was long and thin, yet the runes carved on the blade and handle made the sword seem to hum with power. This sword was created from the essence of a powerful mystic creature. The weapon whose name meant 'The End of the Gods'. Shadow remembered how Edgar had been so proud to find that sword, only to lose it during the first few minutes of the battle as a blast from Kefka had ripped it from his hand and knocked him unconscious. And beneath his mask, for the first time in weeks, Shadow smiled.  
  
"ENOUGH," Kefka yelled and each of his hands shot out, both grabbing a warrior by the neck, the images they had created vanishing. "I have had enough of these interruptions, your pestering, your infantile-"  
  
THUNK!  
  
Kefka looked down in surprise to see the handle of Ragnarok sticking out of his chest, the long blade buried half way into his chest. Kefka spasmed in pain and surprise, letting go of the men in his grasp, both samurai and martial artist relieved that they could breath again.  
  
Below them, Shadow stood with his arm extended, the weapon he had thrown having found it's mark expertly.  
  
Kefka tried to speak, but only blood came out of his mouth. He looked down at the sword and saw it glow brightly as it's power began to cause chaos with the magic that he had become a part of. He felt every cell in his body as they erupted in pain, the power that was his consuming him like fire consumes wood, the mystic energy spilling out of him in the form of emerald flame.  
  
However, he found his voice again and screamed out "NO!"  
  
All who were conscious looked in awe and horror as the fire around Kefka slowly started to go back within him, as the mad god began to fight the power of the god slaying sword and reclaim the power that was his.  
  
Terra looked up at this with more horror and anger than anyone else. She had spent the time Ares and Tifa had brought her using her magic to heal her friends, to give them a fighting chance, and not it looked like even with victory so close at hand, it would be lost.  
  
"I will not be so," Terra whispered. And in a manner similar to Ares, Terra changed. Kefka had been correct in stating that Terra was a half-breed. Along with her human heritage, she carried with her the blood of the Espers, a race of beings that did not use magic, they were magic. And when she wished, Terra could be much more Esper than human.  
  
And right now, she wished it very much. In a flash of pink and white light, Terra lost all obvious traces of humanity, becoming a humanoid being of pure energy, crackling with power, her now glowing pink hair flying about her as she flew up towards the man that had been the bane of her existence for so many years.  
  
With every human emotion boiling within her, she grabbed the handle of Ragnarok and began to feed it's power, fueling it with her own great mystic power and her own indomitable will, even as she pushed it deeper into Kefka chest, ramming the hilt up against his ribs and slamming him back into the ceiling.  
  
"I don't care if you're more powerful than me," she yelled at the top of her lungs. "I don't care if you're the most powerful thing to ever walk the Earth. YOU. WILL. DIE!"  
  
And Ragnarok's glow brightened even further, and in this moment, Kefka could do naught but scream as his power erupted out of him and into the sword that now had more than enough power to kill him. He tried desperately to reach out to Terra, to crush her with his bare hands so that he could pull the sword out of him and then finish off the rest of the people below him. But he couldn't. His power was out of control, so no magics he could work would save him. And even as he raised his arms against her, they fell off of his body, too consumed with fire to even remain attached to him.  
  
And in seconds, where Kefka, the most powerful man in the universe had stood before, there was now only a husk of charred flesh, turning to dust in the wind.  
  
"It..it's over," Terra said, tears of joy running down her face as she descended to the floor, leaving Ragnarok imbedded in the ceiling. She changed back to human form and hugged Shadow, the man in black startled by this show of emotion but nevertheless returned the gesture. If felt good to be hugged again after so long. Even as they did so, the other warriors picked themselves off the ground and cheered in joy. Locke and Celes embraced each other, followed by a kiss, and Sabin and Edgar high-fived each other joyously. Cyan knelt besides the injured Setzer and began bandaging the mans wounds even as Setzer clapped the samurai on the back.  
  
And slowly, Ares climbed out of the of the crater he had been in to look for Tifa, and saw that she had regained enough of her strength to start walking towards him. They met about half way and hugged each other, leaning on the other for support, as they both felt pretty wasted by this point.  
  
"So, is this your homeworld," Tifa asked after a few moments.  
  
Ares after a few moments of concentration, Ares shook his head. "No. None of my friends are here, and Kefka wasn't that dark presence. Besides, from what I can gather, this world's a lot more like yours than mine."  
  
"Another world of 'Fantasy', as you put it," Tifa replied.  
  
"Yeah, and it looks like we arrived just in time to help keep it from becoming a 'Final Fantasy', as you put it." Ares replied back. "Still, I'm a little disappointed in my performance. By all rights, I should have been able to take that guy out. I REALLY hate fighting magic."  
  
"Um, excuse me," someone said from behind the couple. Ares and Tifa turned and saw that the group of heroes that they had both rescued and been rescued by. They appeared to have mixed emotions of the group, an odd combination of gratitude for their rescue, but caution at the power both displayed. Terra was standing foremost among them, apparently the groups leader. "We're, um, grateful for your help, but who are you exactly?"  
  
"My name is Ares," the warrior responded "and my lovely friend here is Tifa. "  
  
"I'm Terra. These are Locke, Sabin, Edgar, Shadow, Cyan, Celes, Setzer, Relm, Strago, Gogo and Gau." Each of the members of the party nodded as they where named, including a young girl with an art brush in hand, an old man in wizards robes, a man dressed in outlandish yellow and orange robes that covered his entire body and a young boy with green hair and an animal hide outfit. Terra briefly wondered if she should name Mog and Umaro, the moogle and the yeti they had left as back up in the airship that hovered above Kefka's tower.  
  
Ares and Tifa nodded appreciatively as Ares began to speak. "We're travelers from another world. The details are a bit complicated, but suffice to say, we're just passing through here."  
  
"Another world," Sabin asked as he scratched his head in confusion. Dimensional/interplanetary travel was a bit beyond him.  
  
Locke nodded his head, shrugged and commented. "Well, I'm just grateful you two passed through here when you did. That was good timing on our part."  
  
"Perhaps t'was the hand of fate that did guide yon couple to our aid," Cyan commented as he helped Setzer to his feet, the gambler able to stand again.  
  
"I'd call it luck, personally," Seterz said with a grimace as the pain in his leg flared up briefly as he put too much weight on his leg. He quickly shifted most of his weight to his other foot while leaning on Cyan for support.  
  
"Fate, Luck, Maybe a little bit of both," Ares said thoughtfully "I'm just glad we could help." He glanced up at the ceiling, and then frowned. "If you don't mind some advice, I would leave that sword in the wall."  
  
"Why," Terra asked.  
  
"Well, I'm looking at it and seeing Kefka's energy inside it, and it's actually appears to be holding this fortress together. Apparently Kefka's fortress was built and sustained only by Kefka's power. You take out the sword and the whole place will come crumbling down."  
  
"Oh my," Terra said as everyone simultaneously glanced up at the sword that burned with a bright green light, imbedded high in the ceiling. "That's not good news. I'd rather have been able to take it out with us, as it is a very powerful mystical artifact, but if we don't have any other choice."  
  
"Actually," Ares said "I have an idea that could work, but I'd have a favor to ask in return."  
  
"After the help you gave us, we'd help you out anyway, but if you can get Ragnarok back as well, so much the better. What's the plan?"  
  
"Well, it's pretty simple actually..."  
  
************************************************  
  
A few seconds later, Tifa, Terra and the rest of the people from this other world of Final Fantasy were aboard the Airship that been designed and built by Setzer. Tifa was amazed at the odd mix of ancient and advanced technology. The airship was, by all appearances, a large ship much like an ocean ship, only that this one had both engines to propel it through the air and an enormous bag attached to it filled with some gas to keep it in the air.  
  
"Are you sure about this," Terra asked her as she glanced over the edge of the Airship to look at Kefka's tower, a monument to all the suffering they had undergone to free the world from his grip. The airship hovered about 50 yards or so above the tower, waiting.  
  
Tifa smiled. "Trust me. Ares is just full of surprises."  
  
And with that, Ares appeared from nowhere, two fingers of one hand pressed against his forehead, the glowing sword in his other hand. "Aw, thanks Tif, that's really sweet."  
  
Below them, the tower of Kefka, the mile high fortress created from stone and magic and the will of a madman began to collapse in on itself, crumbling to less than nothing without the power of a mad god to keep it stable. The entire crew watched in a mixture of awe and relief as the greatest physical reminder of Kefka's evil crumbled into a mountain of rock and pebbles.  
  
After the show was over, Ares handed Terra the sword, the green haired girl smiling at the handsome warrior. "I can't thank you enough, but how did you- ?"  
  
Ares laughed. "It's one of the advantages of being able to teleport."  
  
"Well," Terra said as she handed the sword to Edgar, who placed it back in it's sheath "I believe we owe you something don't we?"  
  
Without another word, Terra, Celes and Strago, the only pure mages on board, all pointed a hand at Ares and Tifa, followed by intoning the phrase "CURE 3!"  
  
Instantly, Ares felt a refreshing surge of energy run through his body, while it felt like a soothing summers breeze was running over his skin. He looked at Tifa and from the look on her face, she felt the same way. After a moment, Ares felt like his old self.  
  
"Wow," Ares said. "That was.that was something."  
  
"Yeah, Cure spells are always like that. Pretty refreshing, eh," Tifa asked.  
  
"Very," Ares responded as Terra walked over to them, a bag in hand.  
  
"Here," she said as she handed it to Ares. "This bag contains several Elixers and Phoenix Downs. The former will restore your health and vitality, while the latter will bring you back to life no matter how close to death you are provided you aren't completely dead."  
  
Ares glanced at Tifa, who said, "I filled her in on what was going on while you waited for us to clear out. They insisted on giving us a little more help."  
  
Ares slung the bag over his shoulder and extended a hand out to Tiffa, who took it and shook it. "I can't thank you enough. I truly wish we had more time to spend here, but we've got to get going. Hopefully, though, I'll be able to come back and swap stories with you."  
  
Terra smiled. "It should make for one interesting story swap."  
  
Tifa nodded. "No kidding." She turned to Ares and said, "Well, dear, ready to make trails."  
  
"As you command, my love," Ares said with a grin as he wrapped one arm around Tifa's waist and punched the dimensional boundaries, again opening a gateway to another world.  
  
"Good luck my friends," Terra called as the other members each made a similar wish of luck.  
  
"Thank you," Ares said. "Take care of yourselves until we return."  
  
And with a step, they were gone.  
  
*****************************************  
  
Sitting in a meditative position, Overmarvel focused his cosmic senses on the universe around him, on the very essence of creation itself, tuning in on everything that was. He marveled (no pun intended) at the sheer genius it must have taken for the original maker of the universe to have created such perfection.  
  
And then suddenly, his senses were hit with a wave of distortion, like someone had just dumped battery acid on his brain. He roared in pain and clutched his head with his hands, kneeling upright as he fought against a wave nausea.  
  
Zechs Zonnz heard the mental anguish in his friends mind from across the Legion's Mansion, and flew to his side, phasing through the walls like an immaterial wraith. With such speed did the Manhunter respond that the initial roar of agony was just barely out of his friends mouth.  
  
{Marv-El} Zechs said through his mental link {Be calm and at ease} And with that, the Marquise Manhunter reached out with his mind and eased the pain his friend felt, even while he helped him to his feet physically.  
  
After a few moments of silence, Overmarvel could speak again, and gently pushed Zechs away from him. "I am alright, my friend. Now, at least."  
  
"What happened, Marv-El? I have never in my life felt the kind of mental anguish that you have experienced, and I have seen, felt and been victim to much of it in my life."  
  
"It was horrible, Zechs. As if someone had just torn a hole in the very fabric of all that is and then poured toxic waste into it."  
  
He stared into his friends eyes with a haunted look that he had never before worn. "Something is coming, Zechs. Something powerful. Something evil. Call the rest of the Justice Legion of Avengers, we have to act quickly!"  
  
*****************************************  
  
"Let me see if I understand this," Ares said. "On this world, people capture small, cute little monsters, keep them prisoner in tiny little balls and then make them fight against each other in large tournaments. But before you can enter said tournament, you have to collect a certain number of badges from several towns with weird names."  
  
"Well, I wouldn't but it like that, but yeah, that's about sums it up," Ash Ketchum, a young boy in blue jeans, and white and blue jacket and a red baseball cap responded.  
  
"Pika-pika," the strange yellow rabbit looking thing at his feet said.  
  
"And the only thing these little guys can say is there names?"  
  
"Pretty much, yeah," Misty, a young girl with red hair tied in a 'top-not' style, replied.  
  
"This has got to be the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my life," Ares said in disbelief. "How can you make these little guys fight each other? They're so cute and it seems cruel to capture animals from their natural environment for the sole purpose of making them hurt each other. I can't-"  
  
"WILL YOU CUT THAT OUT!"  
  
Ares turned to see Brock, the tall tanned boy with dark brown hair grabbing onto Tifa's leg, tears coming out of his tightly shut eyes. Tifa was shaking her leg at really high speeds in an attempt to get Brock off of her, but he seemed to have death grip on her. Ares, Ash and Misty all looked at this scene, large sweat drops appearing on the back of their heads.  
  
"AT LAST," the young man said "I've found her! The perfect GIRL! Now that I've touched you, beloved, I shall never let you go! We will be together for all-"  
  
WHAM!  
  
"Get off of my girlfriend you PERVERT," Ares yelled as he dashed over to where Brock was and decked him so hard that the young man flew twenty feet away to crash through a tree and slam into another one, slowly sliding down the trees surface to lay on the ground, his eyes the size of dinner plates, his mouth hanging loosely open as he muttered to himself about the pretty birds he was seeing.  
  
"Did you have to hit him so hard," Tifa asked.  
  
Ares looked at her with a skeptical eyebrow raised.  
  
"WHOA THERE," Tifa said defensively. "I'm not planning to go out with him or anything, I just don't think that a guy should be killed for groping someone."  
  
Satisfied, Ares answered her. "Well, I've noticed something odd about their bodies when we first arrived here. The three of them have relatively normal strength, speed, etc., but their durability is pretty impressive. On your world, that punch would have killed a normal person, but a punch of that strength will only knock him out for a while."  
  
"I see," Tifa said.  
  
"HEY," Ash yelled. "I realize Brock can be a little grabby, but that's no reason to pick on him like that. PIKKACHU, THUNDER ATTACK, NOW!"  
  
"PIKKA PIKKA," the little animal yelled as a brilliant electric aura flared about it, which was followed quickly afterwards by a bolt of lightning leaping out of him and towards the otherworldly couple.  
  
"You're kidding me," Ares said as he raised up one hand and flicked the bolt of lightning with one finger. That single finger flick knocked the bolt away from them, unintentionally hitting a cat shaped balloon in the distance, causing the hydrogen in it to explode, sending it's three passengers flying off into the horizon. As they sailed away into the distance, the occupants all yelled out, "TEAM ROCKET BLASTING OFF AGAIN!"  
  
Ares was almost insulted by the lameness of that attack. He calmly walked towards Ash at a slow an relaxed pace, giving Ash enough time to yell, "PIKKACHU, CHARGE ATTACK, NOW!"  
  
With that, the furry yellow animal sprang forward and rushed at Ares, leaping upward and ramming it's head into Ares chest. The poor little animal may as well have been ramming into a mountain, for the only thing it did was knock itself unconscious.  
  
Ares stepped over the animal that's eyes were now replaced by swirling spirals as it weakly muttered, "Pikaaaaaaaa.."  
  
He continued to walk over to Ash, who stood frozen in fright, unable to move. Ares stood right in front of him, and raised a single hand over Ash's head. He then brought it down on his skull, hammering Ash up to his chin into the ground like he was a railroad spike. The young man was thoroughly unconscious.  
  
Ares glanced at Misty, who shrugged. "Hey, they've had that coming for a while now."  
  
Ares nodded and walked back to Tifa. "This is most definitely not my world. Let's get out of here before it really starts getting to me."  
  
"Yeah, lets," Tifa said as she shook her head. "Tournaments with cute animals?"  
  
Ares sighed. "You know, I'd almost rather not find out where I'm from if it meant finding out that I come from a place like this."  
  
Tifa nodded. "Yeah, I'd have problems dating anyone who came from a world like this, cool warrior god or not."  
  
Ares looked at her with a skeptical eyebrow. "You're kidding?"  
  
Tifa smiled at him cheerful and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm kidding."  
  
Ares breathed out a sigh of relief and opened the gate. "In any case, let's be off."  
  
*****************************************  
  
Normally, Thanos6 would have been very annoyed at this moment. Just second earlier he had been enjoying a particularly good episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, possibly the best show Earth had ever concocted, and now he was forced to switch his monitors to something else. However, this particular case did not annoy him so much as worry him. He looked at the readouts his computers gave him, and a grim look fell over his purple features.  
  
This was most distressing.  
  
He momentarily pondered what would be the best course of action, and then raised his right arm so that he was staring at one of the golden ovoid gems on the quantum bands he wore. It glowed brightly momentarily, and then the face of Captain America appeared inside the sphere.  
  
****************************************  
  
Meanwhile, on Earth, Captain America was updating the Avengers files, diligently making sure all of their data was in fact up to date.  
  
However, we was quite startled to see a globe of yellow energy the size of a basketball suddenly appear before him. After a few moments, a visage appeared inside the orb, one that Cap recognized immediately.  
  
"Greetings, Captain."  
  
"Thanos," the Captain responded. "I take it that this isn't a social call."  
  
"Indeed. I'm exercising one of my rights as a Reserve Avenger and calling a meeting. I will be back on Earth within the hour. Please have all available members there when I arrive."  
  
"What's this all about Thanos?"  
  
"In due time, Captain. In due time. Suffice to say, however, this may be the single greatest threat to our universe in recorded history."  
  
The Captain almost asked if the Titan was kidding, but knew that was very unlikely.  
  
"Alright, I'll have the team assembled for when you arrive."  
  
"Very good Captain. Thanos6, over and out."  
  
*******************************************  
  
Thanos6 had to admire Captain America's command of his team. In under an hour, he had managed to assemble all of his teammates, despite the diverse lot that currently served as the Avengers and whatever personal lives they may have had interrupted by this meeting.  
  
"Now then," Thanos began "I'm sure you are all aware of my fondness for scientific indulgence and my perchance for investigation. Well, it was during one such delving into universal secrets that I uncovered something rather unsettling."  
  
With that, Thanos raised up an arm to point the lenses of his Quantum bands towards the center of the Avengers meeting table. Yellow cohesive light leapt out and made it's way to the center of the table, forming a golden disk of energy roughly the size of a trashcan lid.  
  
"Now, this will take some explaining, so I will try and keep it short and simple for the less metaphysically inclined amongst you. Our universe is only one of a vast multiverse, where parallel universes exist alongside our own, very much alike, but divergent in one key area. However, beyond our multiverse lies the omniverse, made up of many multiverses."  
  
With that, the disk began to change into a pie chart, and divided into a top and bottom half. The bottom half then divided in half.  
  
"The multiverses we know of so far are our own marvelous universe," Thanos continued, the lower right section of the chart forming the words Marvel on it as he spoke "and that Different Continuity multiverse that had Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Justice League in it." And the letters DC formed on the bottom left section of the chart. "Apart from that we are unfamiliar with what other possible multiverses lie out there. There could be one, two or even countless other mutliverses contained within our omniverse. And given that there are an almost limitless number of universes within a single multiverse, you can see that the omniverse is a very, very big place." The top half of the pie chart was labeled 'Other'.  
  
There where whistles of awe combined with looks of startlement, while several of the more scientifically minded members merely nodded in approval. Hawkeye merely scratched his head in confusion, but said nothing.  
  
"Travel between dimensions in ones own multiverse is fairly simple if you know how to do it. Travel between multiverses is much more difficult because of a trans-dimensional barrier that acts to separate the multiverses from each other."  
  
The halves of the pie chart became surrounded by a light yellow border to represent the barrier that separated them from each other.  
  
"Only certain beings possess the ability to transverse this barrier, such as Access, Galactus, and a few others. However, there is one place that crosses into every dimensional realm in the multiverse. Su'par Hiro Sho Doa'n."  
  
A smaller circle formed in the center of the pie chart, one that touched the inner edges of all three sections.  
  
"This place is something of a mystery. No one knows where it has come from, but many speculate that it was from here that the omniverse was born. That it was this realm that had the quantum-dimensional anomaly that caused the Big Bang to occur in every other dimension. I have been to this dimension several times and have seen all manner of strange visitors, possibly from the other multiverses. In theory, it would be possible to enter any dimension from SHSD, but the council that rules the dimension will only allow those with their express permission to do so, and it's not easy to gain their favors. Additionally, they are quite powerful and have many warriors to fight for them."  
  
"Indeed," Thor interrupted "I myself have just recently been there to engage in friendly combat with our old ally Scott Summers, now merely known as Cyke."  
  
Thanos rolled his eyes. "Thank you for that little bit of knowledge Thor. I'm sure we find that very comforting."  
  
"This is all real interesting," Hawkeye said, though Thanos didn't believe for an instant that the archer even understood most of what was being said here, let alone be interested in it "but is there a point to all of this?"  
  
"I am getting to that, Barton," Thanos replied coldly. "Recently, my instruments have detected an aberration in the dimensional fields that make up the omniverse. You see, when someone travels through dimensions, especially multiversal dimensional breaches, it creates a slight ripple effect that can be detected by people with the proper instruments or abilities, such as those with well developed Cosmic Awareness."  
  
"So someone's dimension hopping," Hawkeye said again. "Big deal. Guys like Thor, the FF and you do it all the time, but it's not like we have a meeting every time they do."  
  
Thanos considered for a moment about whether or not he should make a quantum construct muzzle around Clint's mouth, but from the look on Thor's face, that's all it would take to start a fight, which Thanos decided would be a waste of time and energy in the face of the current crisis.  
  
"The problem, Barton, is that whoever is dimension hopping is traveling through dimension after dimension at a very rapid pace, and that the ripples originated so far away from our dimension that we shouldn't have been able to detect them. Yet, we have, which can only mean that almost irreparable damage is being done to the fabric of reality, and likely to every universe that being travels through. The number of lives in danger include every living being in the omniverse."  
  
There was a pause of complete and utter disbelief. Captain America stood up in his chair, the patriotism and presence exuded from him making him appear almost like a god.  
  
"This situation sounds grave, Thanos. Graver than anything we've faced before. As our expert in affairs like this, what do you propose."  
  
Thanos removed the pie chart from above the Avengers desk and folded his arms across his chest. "I have downloaded several protocols into your computer from my ship, including the plans to design your own scanning devices so that you can monitor the dimensional situation. You can prepare for the anomaly as it comes nearer to you. I myself will take my ship and travel to meet this aberration before it arrives here."  
  
"You plan to go by yourself," Captain America asked.  
  
"Not entirely. I plan to take one other with me, though he is not an Avenger or even a frequent visitor of Earth. That way I can have someone powerful to back me up and not leave Earth any less defended in my absence. I will also transmit data to you via a trans-dimensional quantum globe, so that you will be kept updated on all that is going on. Hopefully I will be able to deal with this on my own. If not, the information I send you will allow you to prepare as best you can. I suggest you contact the Fantastic Four and Adam Warlock. They both have more experience in this sort of matter than you do."  
  
"How are you going to be able to find this anomaly," Ironman asked. "From what you just said, there are an infinite number of universes out there, and that there are only a few beings that can cross the dimensional boundaries that you'd need to cross."  
  
"To answer your first question, my scanning devices will allow me to chart a path through the dimensions so that I can intercept the anomaly as quickly as possible. To answer your second question, my ship is equipped with devices that, when sufficiently powered, will allow me to make inter- multiversal jumps. My 'partner' and I will be able to supply it with the energy it needs for the journey."  
  
Thanos turned back to Captain America. "Is this satisfactory, Captain?"  
  
Cap considered Thanos's offer, and could find no obvious fault in the logic, so finally he said, "Alright, Thanos, but one question. Just who is the person you're taking with you?"  
  
Thanos6 merely smiled.  
  
*********************************************  
  
"RRRRAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
A golden aura flashed into existence around the Prince Surfer, changing his ebony skin into one of pure gold. Fully powered up to Super Sayiajin Mode, the Prince launched himself at the fleet of space pirates that he had come across, the ships making a desperate attempt to flee for their lives.  
  
It was a wasted effort.  
  
"FOOLISH COWARDS," Vegeta screamed at the retreating ships. "No matter how fast you fly, no matter how far you go, you shall not escape the wrath of the Last Prince of Vegeta!"  
  
To punctuate his last statement, the Prince let a hail of energy blasts fly from his hands, hundreds of his unique ki based power cosmic blasts erupting from his palms to fly like comets straight towards the fleeing ships. The bolts all found their targets, the metal hull not resisting the ki bolts any more than a piece of tissue paper could resist a cannon ball fired into it at point blank range. In a split second, the pirates lost three starships that were each almost the size of Manhattan.  
  
The remaining two ships turned around and began launching smaller fighters, apparently deciding to fight to the bitter end. And the Prince Surfer would ensure that it was a very bitter end.  
  
Dozens of ships the size of a one story house simultaneously launched a hail of energy blasts at him, and Vegeta laughed. With no more effort than a normal person would use to skip over a speed bump, the Surfer avoided all of them, though had they hit him it would have done no damage whatsoever. He poured on the speed and smashed through one ship like meteor, the ship detonating as he flew through it. He roared and unleashed another torrent of energy bolts that each struck an individual ship, decimating the smaller flight ships, leaving only the larger ships, that had turned to flee again.  
  
As Vegeta began to pursue them, his senses detected another ship approaching him from behind, but not a pirate ship. This was a ship he had had dealings with before. It was large, at least twice the size of the ships he pursued, and the overall design of this ship was much more elegant than the pirate ships.  
  
The Prince sighed to himself as he caught up to one ship and flew through it's reactor warp drive, causing an explosion that ripped the ship to shreds. If HE was here, that could only mean trouble. He briefly considered trying to outrace the ship, but he knew that would be a futile gesture. It could maintain as fast a pace as he could set, and eventually he would have to stop for one reason or another and it would be then that the ship would finally catch up with him.  
  
Deciding to get it over with, the Prince held out one hand and let fly a single bolt of pure blue force that completely vaporized the ship and it's crew. Satisfied that this threat to his star systems was neutralized, the Prince powered down to his normal mode and folded his arms across his chest and waited. Despite his loss of his planet, he was still a prince, and he would have the ship come meet him, not vice versa.  
  
Sure enough, the ship slowed until it's airlock was only a few feet in front of him. After the ship had completely stopped, it took only a few moments for the door to open up to reveal the person the Prince Surfer had expected.  
  
"Greetings Vegeta, Prince Surfer of the Space Ways," Thanos6 called out, his quantum bands transmitting his message to Vegeta.  
  
"Thanos6," Vegeta said both flatly and dryly. "What do you want? I hope it has nothing to do with my treatment of those pirates, because I don't have neither the time nor the patience for a lecture from you. I will deal with the scum of the universe in my own way."  
  
Thanos6 smiled. If anything, Vegeta could be counted on not to mince words or be anything but direct.  
  
"Please Vegeta. I could not care less about how you treated your foes if I put psychological effort into caring less. No, I am here on a matter of much greater importance."  
  
Thanos quickly explained to the Surfer the dilemma the universe now faced, and how Thanos wished for the Prince to accompany him on this journey.  
  
"No."  
  
This had been the answer Thanos had expected, but if he wanted to convince him to come along, he was going to have to stick to the script he prepared.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because this has nothing to do with me. It would just distract me even further from my quest to slay Galactus. There are other superbeings that could help you on this stupid quest of yours. Why not go get Thor or some other like minded person to do this for you?"  
  
"Thor? You must be joking. That dim witted Asgardian could not even best Cyke in combat. I need someone with both power and a mind for combat strategy. Besides, your unique cosmic powers lend themselves well to my cause."  
  
"I am not going Thanos. If this threat arrives in my universe, I will destroy it when it arrives. Until then, I have to continue to look for a method to kill Galactus."  
  
"A method we could find in one of the other universe."  
  
The Prince's eyes widened slightly, and Thanos new he had taken the bait.  
  
"Explain yourself, clone."  
  
"I will be traveling through several dimensions, during which time you will have the opportunity to grow stronger from any possible opponents we face there, but we may also stumble across a method to defeat your Galactus. Somewhere in the multiverse must exist a universe that has discovered a way to vanquish Galactus, and if we discover how they did it, you could then use it to slay your tormentor. At the same time, you can indulge yourself in battle against any number of worth foes we come across."  
  
For long moments, Vegeta stared at the Titan, conflicting emotions playing across his face.  
  
"I HATE you," he replied finally.  
  
Thanos smiled as he turned and headed back inside the airlock. "Then it's settled. Come, I will need your cosmic ki energy to power my TDU, along with the mystic/scientific energy at my disposal. The sooner we leave, the sooner you can come back and slay your purple fork headed adversary."  
  
Still muttering under his breath, Vegeta followed Thanos into the airlock.  
  
In no time at all, the pair had made their way to the Trandimensional Displacement Unit. Placing each a hand on the machines energy recipticial units, each called on the power that burned within them.  
  
In a few minutes, the machine was at full power.  
  
And in a few seconds afterwards, they were gone. 


	8. Chapter Seven: The Many Steps along the ...

Chapter 7: Many Steps Along the Path *********************************************************  
  
Hovering half a mile above the battlefield, Ares braced himself, his arms crossed before his face defensively, as an enormous jet of flame washed over him, completely engulfing him in a stream of fire. The warrior gritted his teeth at the pain the fire caused him, due in no small part to the mystic nature of the being spewing it at him.  
  
"I truly, TRULY hate magic," he thought to himself.  
  
He waited patiently as the flame, hot enough to reduce the majority of the continent beneath him to a charred cinder, continued to strike him. It washed over him like an unrelenting tide of fire, and for a moment Ares believed he'd be in this unenviable position all day. However, after a few moments, the infernal stream ebbed, allowing the warrior another glance at his opponent.  
  
Looming above him was a gigantic dragon, scales blacker than the darkest midnight and in one heck of a bad mood. Though Ares didn't know it, his foe's name was Narse, an ancient and powerful demon dragon from the time when gods still battled over the land now known as Lodoss. Ares wasn't really concerned with his enemies name or age at the moment. He was far more concerned with the fact that this thing was threatening the humans below them, and that was a big no-no.  
  
And speaking of the humans below them, a single, dark haired human in dark green archaic battle armor looked up to the sky, making no attempt to hide the awe in his eyes. King Cashu whispered almost reverently to himself, "By the Gods. To think that there was a man capable of battling Narse to a standstill."  
  
With no small effort, the king of a desert nation tore his eyes from the sky and looked on at the battle that lay before him on the ground. He and the other heroes of Lodoss had learned of a plot to resurrect Kartis, Goddess of Madness and Destruction, whose second coming would spell the end of all life on the broken continent. Not willing to let all they loved be consumed in a tide of madness and destruction, the Cashu and his allies had journeyed to Marmo, to the Temple of Kartis itself to stop the High Priest, Vagnard, from performing the dreaded ceremony that would return the goddess to the mortal plane. Cashu had wondered dimly of their hope for survival when Narse had appeared, but no sooner had the dragon taken a defensive position before the temple than two strangers had arrived. One was a man, or perhaps a god, who called himself Ares, who had begun to fight the black dragon on equal terms.  
  
"FINAL HEAVEN!"  
  
Cashu turned towards the sound of those words, shouted by a female voice from across the battlefield, whose words gave warning of the power that it was herald to. Suddenly, there was an enormous explosion that rocked the ground, followed by a bright flash of light and a deafening boom. The King stared in awe at the a young woman of surpassing beauty standing in the center of a large crater, the fallen bodies of trolls, wolfmen and dark elves falling to the ground about her like a rain of severed limbs.  
  
"And to think that there existed such a beautiful woman that could also defeat a troop of Marmo monsters on her own!" Cashu thoughts exclaimed, the rogue in him unable to not admire the woman before him. Still, the ogre that charged at him reminded him that he was on a battlefield. The king stepped inside the ogre's swing, and introduced his sword to the creature's belly.  
  
Tifa, for her part, was enjoying herself. The horrors of war were not lost on her, indeed, she was all too familiar with the sense of loss and pain caused by open warfare. She had lost too many loved ones and suffered too much to not know the tragedies that awaited even those that survived each battle.  
  
However, this was the first fight in a long time that she'd been able to really cut loose. In the few battles she had partaken the last week (it felt like a week, it was hard to keep track of time while constantly hopping dimensions) during her trip with Ares, she had played a relatively minor role. Now, she could see what her body, more powerful than ever with Ares' training, could do. Besides the increase in speed, strength and durability, she had become more adept at using her 'ki' as an offensive weapon. For example, she could channel her Final Heaven, originally a supercharged Ki punch useful against only one opponent, into the ground and cause a massive ki explosion that basically created a large sphere of death to all around her. As the creatures of Marmo had just discovered, to their excruciatingly painful but mercifully short regret.  
  
Tifa looked around to see if there were any other troops in the area in need of her assistance, and sure enough, there were. Yet, before Tifa rushed to their rescue, she spared a glance to see how her boyfriend was doing.  
  
***  
  
High above the battlefield, Ares was finally getting annoyed.  
  
"Alright," the warrior said as dodged another jet of flame, "Enough is enough." He was fed up with being target practice for this over-grown reptile. Besides, the more time he wasted up here, the more humans died beneath him.  
  
The warrior crossed his arms in front of his face, making a sort of 'x' with his forearms, spread his legs apart, bent his knees slightly, hunched over and concentrated. His ki adjusted to the new body posture, and followed his command. Suddenly, the air around Ares shimmered slightly, and slowly, two afterimages of Ares emerged from his body, one on either side of him, mirroring his stance. After they were about a foot away from him, the images solidified, and suddenly there were three warriors instead of one.  
  
As one, the three Ares stood up and glanced at each other, all sharing the same mind. Ares had to admit that having one consciousness in three bodies at the same moment was a bit disorienting, but for what he was about to do, he needed the extra hands.  
  
In one instant, Ares #2 and #3 dashed downwards towards the battlefield, even as the Ares #1 smirked at the dragon that regarded what had just happened with confusion. Abruptly, Ares #1 yelled, his piercing roar echoing through the evening sky as his power-level rose higher and higher, even as the signature red aura around him swelled and burned brighter and brighter, until his power could grow no further.  
  
Ares #1 frowned. One of the disadvantages of this technique was that his power was split between the duplicates of himself. He was essentially 1/3rd as powerful as he had been before, and even maxed out, his current form had insufficient power for his plan.  
  
Still, he had ways around that.  
  
"KAIO-KEN!" he bellowed, and the aura around him intensified twenty fold as the Fist of the World technique focusing his mind, body and soul, producing an enormous amount of ki for him to use. The blazing corona of power around him blazed even greater, grew larger, shaking the air and causing the ground far beneath him to tremble. However, even as his power grew, he felt that same power strain every fiber of his being, filling his form to bursting, cutting into his vitality and stamina. Still, he was going to need the level of power the technique gave him, despite the cost.  
  
He looked at the dragon. The massive, fearsome mountain of scales, fangs and hate. And despite the pain he was in, he smiled.  
  
Below the aerial duel, a human soldier named Brokken was knocked to the ground by the powerful backhand of the seven-foot ogre in front of him. Brok, as he was known, looked up, eyes wide with fight and apprehension as the grinning monster raised a battle-axe upwards with horrifying ease, the blade larger than most wagon wheels. Brok shut his eyes as axe descended, certain that soon he'd be with his brother soon.  
  
Suddenly, the wind kicked up.  
  
For a long, tense moment, Brok waited, but he never felt the axe's sting. He cautiously opened one eye, only to find himself not only among the living, but among his fellow knights of Vallis. It was as if he was suddenly in the center of the Vallis army, surrounded on all sides and as far as he could see by his comrades, all of whom looked as puzzled as he that they were no longer in combat. He stood up slowly, even as his aching knees protested otherwise. It looked like his reunion with his brother would be longer in the coming.  
  
Meanwhile, the ogre was surprised to see the downward swing of his axe cleave a goblin in two. As he pulled his axe from the still twitching corpse, he looked around and saw that he was surrounded by the other ogres, goblins, dark elves and assorted monsters of the Marmo army. And like himself, many of them had been positioned so that their attacks aimed for an enemy had felled an ally instead. Now, this ogre wasn't necessarily the smartest thing to ever crawl out of the gene pool, but even he knew that something was amiss.  
  
Then, suddenly, the area around him was cast into darkness. He looked around frantically to see what had happened, and he saw that darkness stopped several dozen yards away, like he was within a large shadow that was growing larger by the second.  
  
He glanced upward and promptly soiled his loincloth.  
  
The sky was falling  
  
***  
  
A mere twenty seconds earlier:  
  
Tifa was the only one who could clearly see what Ares #2 and #3 were doing, as she was the only one even close to the speed they moved at. The warriors were flying around the battlefield as superspeed, moving all the Vallis troops to one side of the battlefield, carefully placing them so that they would not injure each other. Meanwhile, they were also moving the Marmo troops to another part of the battlefield, all closely centered around each other, positioned so that they would injure each other if possible.  
  
Tifa dashed towards the closest Ares (#3, incidentally) even as he pulled Brok to safety, and she managed to catch up to him, albeit with some effort. She spared her boyfriend a glance and asked, "So, are you going to let me in on the plan or do you want to surprise me?"  
  
Ares #3 smiled, "Be patient just a few seconds more, gorgeous. I think you'll like this surprise."  
  
In the sky, Ares #1 closed the gap between himself and Narse, streaking towards the black dragon like a comet, a red sphere of fiery energy churning around him. His fist slammed into the dragon's chest with mountain pulverizing force, and the scale armor shattered like glass, and the bones that made up the creatures rib cage were ground into powder. He then zoomed up to the dragons face, Narse's maw wide in a roar of pain and suffering. Ares lashed out with a vicious kick that connected with the side of the dragon's head, cracking the dragon's skull. To the humans below watching this, the sight of a human so injuring the castle-sized dragon was awe- inspiring.  
  
Ares #1 smiled. If they thought that was impressive, then they'd love what was about to happen. The warrior landed a kick on the dragon's jaw, sending its head snapping upward even as teeth went flying out of its mouth. Ares #1 then flew to the dragon's neck and wrapped his arms around as much of its enormous bulk as he could, digging his fingers into the dragon's scaly hide. Managing to get a sufficient grip on it, Ares #1 then pivoted and flipped the dragon in mid air, throwing it downwards.  
  
Right towards the Marmo army that lay beneath the two of them.  
  
Many of the troops tried to make a run for it, some figuring that they could get out of range before the dragon hit the ground, the others just running out of terror. Many thought that they were hallucinating and that this disturbing image would pass soon. And some merely dropped their weapons and waited for what they felt was an inevitable death. Those last ones, in any event, were correct.  
  
The dragon slammed onto the ground, squashing all the troops of the Marmo army like bugs beneath a lizard skin boot even as the ground shattered and broke beneath the Narse's bulk. The deafening crash was heard across the entire continent, and the humans of the Vallis army tried to cover their ears, even as they were thrown from their feet. Though the wind was knocked from him, King Cashu lifted himself up from the ground, dumbstruck to then see Narse flat on his back, the Marmo army literally crushed beneath the beast. Wonderment swept over Cashu's face, but it quickly turned to shock as Narse began to get to his feet.  
  
In the sky, Ares #2 and #3 rejoined Ares #1 in the sky. As one, the three warrior's raised their arms above their heads, right palm pressed against their left, even as their battle aura's flashed brightly around them, as power flooded into their hands.  
  
"MA-SEN-KOU!" the three yelled in unison as they thrust their hands downward in perfect synchronism, and golden energy erupted from their hands. The three bolts of power shot downward and smashed into Narse like yellow lances hurled by the gods themselves. They blasts exploded, kicking up a fierce wind that pushed the human troops backward even further, even as a cloud of dust swarmed around the area.  
  
King Cashu stared for many long moments in Narse's direction, waiting for the cloud to disperse. And when it did, many anxious moments later, the sight of Narse greeted his eyes. The dragon was dead, it's chest area all but gone, save for a few ribs that still stood like cracked towers in a ruined city.  
  
And once again, Cashu raised his eyes skyward.  
  
In the air, the three Ares merged into one, even as Tifa flew up to meet him. The warrior woman glanced down at Narse's smoldering corpse, then back at Ares and smiled.  
  
"You were right, that was worth waiting for."  
  
Ares smiled back to her. "Thanks. I especially like the irony of the force of evil being crushed by their most powerful weapon, under a foreboding shadow of darkness."  
  
Tifa reached up and tussled Ares hair. "And you say you're not eloquent." She took notice of how singed he was, then asked, "Are you alright?"  
  
Ares nodded. "I'll heal, but I swear I'm going to go ape-shit on the next magic user that hits me with a fire-spell."  
  
Tifa giggled, then spared a glance down at the human forces that had gotten to their feet, then said, "So, you ready to help them storm the castle?"  
  
Ares' face became serious as he said, "No."  
  
Tifa looked at him in surprise. "Why not?"  
  
"Because we're not supposed to be here, Tifa. This isn't our land, our world, or our cause. We're just visitors that are passing through. I don't have a problem helping out people that are in danger, but we can't do everything for them. This is their world, and if their victory is going to mean anything, they have work for it themselves. If we do too much for them, it'll be like we gave them a victory instead of helped them achieve it."  
  
Tifa looked at him with a skeptic eyebrow raised. "And wiping out the entire opposing army doesn't strike you as doing too much?"  
  
Ares smiled. "Not if there's still monsters and such inside that temple for them to fight. Besides, from what I can tell from my scans, the real battle to decide the fate of the world is taking place as we speak in the center of the temple. All we've done is ensure that most of the soldiers that came here will be able to return home to their families."  
  
Tifa noticed Ares face as he said that last sentence. "-return home to their families." There was such a profound happiness in how he said it, as if the knowledge that these men could go home to their loved ones was the best news he could receive. Tifa also detected a slight note of what sounded like envy, but she could hardly blame him for that.  
  
Instead, she took Ares' hand in hers and said, "Alright hon, I'm ready to go when you are."  
  
King Cashu stood up and looked at the man and woman that had come out of nowhere and decimated the Marmo forces. He owed them the lives of his men, perhaps even his own life. Yet, he had so many questions about who they were and why they were here. He looked at them, as they floated in the heavens so far above him.  
  
Then the man turned and looked right at him. And SMILED. The man then tapped two of his fingers against his forehead and then gave Cashu what looked like a salute before turning to the woman next to him. What the man did next, Cashu could not be certain of, but it looked like he opened a hole in the SKY and walked through it, taking the woman with him.  
  
And like that, they were gone.  
  
Cashu raised his own weapon and touched the hilt to his forehead, saluting the area where they had been. He then turned to his men.  
  
"Well? Don't just sit there!" he said with a roguish smile. "We can't expect the gods to do all the work for us! Onward! TO THE TEMPLE OF KARTIS!"  
  
With a mighty cheer, the men regrouped and followed their king towards the great temple.  
  
****************************************  
  
A lone warrior of Asgard crept forward, more stealthily than any beast of Midgard could hope to be. Slowly, quietly, he made his way behind his target: a large, metal throne that hovered about a foot off the battlefield. Though in truth, the throne itself was not his target, but the individual seated in it. With some effort, the Asgardian warrior stifled his urge to release a battle cry as he leapt towards the throne, his war axe poised to cleave through the throne's back and smite the individual sitting in it.  
  
The back of Thanos6's fist rose to meet the Asgardian's face in mid-flight, while the rest of the Titan remained utterly unmoving, his attention still on the battle before him. As the unconscious Asgardian fell to the ground, Thanos6's hand resumed it's previous action, which was to repeatedly tap the hand-rest/consol of his floating throne, which he lovingly referred to as his Lazy-Boy of Armageddon-level Retribution and Carnage, or L.A.R.C. for short. Thanos6 decided that no self respecting Thanos clone could be without 'the' chair. Despite the chair's considerable comfort (indeed, it was a comfy chair of annihilation), Thanos6 was not in a good mood. His head rested lazily in his right hand, and he gave an audible yawn as he checked the quantum lens on his bands that doubled as a chronometer. Half an hour had pasted.  
  
He glanced at the battle and said, "Surfer, are you through 'playing' with these children yet?"  
  
All he heard in reply was the Prince Surfer's laugh. Thanos6 sighed and tapped a button on the L.A.R.C.'s control panel. A small television screen appeared before the titan, which promptly began to play a Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode. A small 'ping' alerted him that his popcorn was ready, and the clone reached to the portable microwave he had installed at the L.A.R.C.'s base. He popped kernel in his mouth even as episodes villain, the Phantom of Krankor commented, "He is my giant, who follows my every command!"  
  
To which Crow T. Robot responded, "Like, 'Wander around aimlessly' and 'Gain weight'!"  
  
To which Thanos6 chuckled.  
  
***  
  
Meanwhile, the Prince Surfer smiled with childlike glee as he bashed another Asgardian upside the head, the helmet splitting under the force of the Prince's punch. The Surfer looked like a child on Christmas morning who had just gotten the best present in the world. Well, no, that's not accurate. Rather, he looked like a child on Christmas morning who had just gotten a lot of really crappy presents, but was then given a hammer and told he could go to town on them.  
  
Only replace 'presents' with 'Asgardians' and 'hammer' with 'the ki cosmic'.  
  
The Asgardians, to their credit, were TRYING to put the Prince down, but 'trying' did not translate into 'doing', as one Asgardian found. He swung his war mace at the Prince with all the strength he could muster, only to have the metal cudgel break on the Prince's skull. The Surfer turned to the warrior, a cold look on his face as he bared his teeth in a predatory smile.  
  
"I'm sorry, were you trying to get my attention?" he asked as he grabbed the Asgardian by his armored chest piece, the metal bending in the Princes cosmic hands like tin-foil. He drew the Asgardian close to him, till their faces were only an inch apart.  
  
"Congratulations. You've gotten it."  
  
The Prince then laid a crushing blow across the Asgardians face that loosened several of the warrior's teeth, and then threw the hapless warrior at his fellow soldiers, using him as a bowling ball that toppled over several troops.  
  
It was fortunate for the Asgardian's that the Prince Surfer was indeed only 'playing' with them. Had he 'gotten rough' with them, there battlefield would be littered with the dead, not the battered and bruised.  
  
Thanos had briefed the Prince on why the battle was being fought. For one reason or other, Thor was leading half of Asgard against Odin, who commanded the other half. Thor had brought his allies, the Mighty Avengers, into the conflict, each who was armed with a mystic weapon of some sort. The Prince had decided to help out Thor's side, given that they were the underdogs. That and if he had to choose between Odin and Thor, he'd choose the noble, headstrong warrior over the manipulative, stuffy old ruler.  
  
"VILLAIN!"  
  
The Prince Surfer turned to the sound of the voice, instinctively knowing that he was the target of the remark. The Asgardians around the Prince backed away, giving both him and the speaker a clear path to each other.  
  
The Prince smiled when he saw who the speaker was.  
  
"I know not who you are, foul spawn, but it matters not," the warrior said as he addressed the Prince. The tall, handsome Asgardian was clothed in his silver and purple armor, his sword already drawn and bloodied from the days battle. "Thou hath lain low many a brave Asgardian this day, and I will see no more of it. Though it pains me to fight against Thor, ever has my loyalty lied with the Lord of Asgard, and him that now wears the crown is Odin. And thusly, you and all of Thor's allies must be defeated!"  
  
And with that, the warrior charged at the Prince.  
  
"Ah. Balder the Brave," the Prince said as the warrior ran, swiftly diminishing the distance between them.  
  
"The only Asgardian to ever come back from Hela's dark embrace," the Prince continued as Balder continued to run.  
  
"The self proclaimed second greatest warrior in Golden Realm," the Prince remarked as Balder leapt into the air, raising his sword over his head, to then bring it down at the Prince with all the strength he could muster . . . . . . .  
  
. . . . . . . . . and was surprised beyond words when the Prince caught the sword's blade between his thumb and index finder, pinching the blade between them and bringing the swing to a dead stop.  
  
"The biggest whipping boy in all of Asgard," the Prince finished as he used his free hand to punch Balder in the face, sending the god flying backwards to smash into a large boulder, cracking several of the god's bones as well as the rock itself. Balder did not get back up, and wouldn't do so for many hours yet, his face already beginning to swell and turn purple as blood leaked from his broken nose and cut lips.  
  
And the Prince laughed. "Not so beautiful now, are you?" he asked the unconscious Asgardian, satisfaction punctuating every syllable. He was suddenly very happy he had taken Thanos6 up on his offer. He was, after all, thoroughly enjoying himself.  
  
Thanos6, however, was not overly interested in the battle. He had only interfered once, and that was to save Iron Man from death. Thanos rather liked the inventor, as both a skilled scientist and a hero that had overcome his faults through hard work.  
  
However, as he popped another kernel into his mouth, something came to Thanos6's attention. Loki was standing on a hill that overlooked the battle, with a wicked gleam in his eyes. Thanos used his enhanced senses and powers to focus on what Loki was doing.  
  
"O' what fools these immortals be," Loki said to himself. "While thus stalemated, the armies of Asgard, the meddling Avengers, and even the dull- witted Thor shall be unable to prevent me from snatching all of Asgards power for myself!"  
  
"You won't be doing any snatching while the Avengers are here, Loki!"  
  
Loki blinked in surprise. He turned his head this way and that, trying to find the sound of the voice, until he saw a small winged woman in a black and red costume buzzing about his head.  
  
"Oh. Tis only the WASP. For a moment, I feared that a TRUE Avenger had come to thwart my designs. Imagine my relief then to see it is but a mortal girl the size of an insect. Oh, HELP! HELP! Who will save poor Loki from such a mighty foe?! HAHAHA!"  
  
The Wasp's face turned as red as her costume, even as her eyes narrowed dangerously. Loki, for all his long years, had apparently never learned that you never, EVER talk to a woman like that, mortal or otherwise.  
  
"You're going to need saving in a second, BUSTER!" the Wasp said as she powered up her Wasp Stings.  
  
Now, most people wouldn't have realized that Loki was indeed in danger of his immortal existence. Before the battle had begun, the Wasp's Stings had been enchanted by the Vizier of Asgard, and were now LETHAL, even to a god. If she hit Loki at full force, at point plank range, he would die.  
  
The Wasp didn't realize this. Loki sure as hell didn't. But Thanos6 did.  
  
Thanos6 pondered a moment. Loki is a god of lies, of deceit, a murderer and a killer. Were he to die, many innocents would be spared his machinations. On the other hand, Thanos6 was a hero, a Protector of the Universe. Could he just let Loki die like that? By not acting, wouldn't he be just as guilty of killing Loki as the Wasp was about to be?  
  
"Yes I would," Thanos6 mused out loud. He glanced at Loki and the Wasp again.  
  
And smiled as the Wasp fired a blast into Loki's face at point blank range, and sent the front of Loki's face flying out the back of his skull.  
  
For all the god's craftiness, the Titan considered Loki to be a childish fool with delusions of grandeur. And Thanos6 does not gladly suffer fools. As the Protector of the Universe, he had a feeling this universe would be better protected without that particular little godling causing trouble. However, he saw the shock on the Wasp's face, which quickly turned into grief, and Thanos6 realized how traumatic Loki's execution had been for her.  
  
"Damnation," Thanos muttered to himself. He should have realized that a heroic mortal would be traumatized by killing someone, especially a young girl like the Wasp. How in Dr. Forester's name was he supposed to get a girlfriend if he kept forgetting basic psychology?  
  
Tapping into his Stryfe abilities, Thanos6 telepathically reached out and eased the young girl's mind, preventing her from having a nervous breakdown, while simultaneously directing Captain America to go to her and help her out. If anyone could somehow make her feel better, that paragon of virtue could do it.  
  
"THIS BATTLE SHALL COME TO AN END! SO DECLARES ALL-MIGHTY ODIN!"  
  
Thanos6 glanced up to see Odin floating above the battlefield, in full battle regalia, energy erupting off of him like he was a small sun. However, it was neither Odin nor his armor that really caught Thanos6's eye, so much as the colossal sword hovering above Odin's head, which Thanos recognized immediately.  
  
The Odin Sword. A Sword that could supposedly end the entire universe if it was drawn from its sheath. The sword crackled with power, raw energy writhing around the sheathed weapon like a living thing.  
  
"I warn you all now!" Odin bellowed. "Loki doth lie dead. One of my sons now goes to Hela's domain! I order this battle to cease, or by my beard, I will draw this sword out and end it myself!"  
  
The Asgardians looked up to the sky in abject horror. Could Odin be serious? Would he really end the universe?  
  
"Hast thou taken leave of thy senses father?!" Thor cried out in horror. "Thou wouldst truly unleash Ragnarok on us all, for the memory of that deceitful villain?!"  
  
"I say ENOW!" Odin bellowed as he landed in front of his son, the two standing before each other on the ground. The anger between the two was palpable as father and son glared at one another. "For all his faults, Loki was my son, and I shall not-"  
  
"AHEM!"  
  
Thor and Odin looked up from their 'talk' to see Thanos6 hovering above the Odinsword, his arms crossed over his chest.  
  
"If pulling this sword from it's sheath will end this pointless fight, then by all means, allow me," Thanos6 commented, a bored tone creeping into his voice. Before anyone else could react, Thanos6's quantum bands generated a large golden hand that drew the sword from its sheath in one quick pull.  
  
"NO!" Thor and Odin both screamed in unison, while most Asgardian's ducked their heads, as if to avert their eyes from the coming end of the world. Captain America raised his shield, positioning himself and the Wasp behind it, knowing that it probably wouldn't do him any good, but refusing to die without trying. And throughout the battlefield, all present prepared themselves for the end of everything.  
  
Nothing happened.  
  
For a long, tense moment, all present stayed in their 'brace for it, we're all going to die' positions, before realizing that they were definitely not dead and that Armageddon seemed to be taking it's time. Slowly, everyone glanced skywards to see what was going on.  
  
In the sky above them, Thanos floated in the air, arms still crossed, his quantum hand holding the Odinsword in the air, the bare blade shinning with undreamt of power.  
  
But the universe still existed.  
  
Thor was dumbfounded, though Odin clearly voiced his surprise. "But . . . . but how . . . . . . . . . "  
  
"Oh PLEASE," Thanos6 said in mild disgust. "Don't tell me you had actually deluded yourself into thinking this sword was going to eradicate the entire universe." On seeing that Odin apparently had, Thanos6 rolled his dark eyes. "Do you have any notion of how BIG the Universe is, Odin? Of the cosmic forces that make up this lie we call reality? It would seem not. Then let me say it clearly so that all of you 'gods' may understand. This sword cannot destroy the universe, especially not by simply unsheathing it. It's powerful, I'll give it that, and it could very well destroy a solar system or three. But the Universe?"  
  
Thanos6 laughed, a cold, dark laughed that chilled the bones of everyone present. "Do you think Eternity would ALLOW someone as small as you actually destroy the universe? From Eternity's point of view, you gods are as ants are to humans. If every Skyfather in the universe united in an attempt to destroy the Universe, THEN Eternity might have cause for concern. But a single Skyfather? Insignificant. LESS than insignificant. It would take much more power than you can bring to bear, 'All-Mighty Odin'. Someone on Galacus' level could perhaps do it, but a being with that much power would know better than to try and destroy the plane on which they exist. Only someone as small and petty as you would think that he could build a sword that could destroy creation, and then think that it would be a good idea to use it."  
  
Thanos6 then gestured, and the giant golden hand threw the sword at a nearby mountain, where the sword imbedded itself, looking very much like the Sword in the Stone, save that both the sword and the stone looked to be sized for a Celestial.  
  
"Though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised," Thanos6 said as he landed on the ground and stared at Thor and Odin, who still looked at him in abject shock. "Look at you. Look at ALL of you 'gods'. All this power and time to yourselves, and what do you do? You fight amongst yourselves. You war with your neighbors. You subjugate lesser races. You war with other gods. You become jealous of others accomplishments. You are ridiculously easy to anger or fool." He turned to Odin and said, "You lie to your children, try to force them to become what you want them to be rather than let them be themselves, and then you punish them unfairly when they do something you don't agree with. How very HUMAN of you.  
  
"How human of all of you," he said as he turned to every god assembled, his voice making it's way to each of their ears. "THINK FOR A MOMENT! Have you advanced significantly AT ALL in the last five thousand years? Has any of you even come up with an original idea in all that time? NO, you remain stuck in this pitiful state that you have occupied since you were worshipped by some drunken barbarians that decided that it would be easier to steal, en masses, other people's food than grow their own. It's PATHETIC! You're like some pitiful rock and roll star that got left behind because you didn't adapt. You still grab your crotch, wear an insipid silver glove and spin around in place, despite the fact that people HATE that now. You spend more time trying to relive the 'good old days' than you do actually DOING anything! You spend so much time pinning over old human styles of speech, weaponry, armor and what their ideas of what gods should be, that I have to wonder: Are the gods spending so much time trying to please the humans that the gods actually worship the MORTALS now?"  
  
The silence was deafening.  
  
"You're not gods," Thanos6 said with a smile. "You don't have the scope. You don't have the vision. And you certainly don't have the worshippers. You're more like long lived, super-powerful mortals that can't get with the times or get along with each other."  
  
At that, Thor sank to his knees and started crying. The Asgardian's looked at the ground, to ashamed to meet each other's eyes.  
  
Thanos6 looked at the Prince Surfer and said, "Come. Let us leave these 'gods' to play war with themselves."  
  
The two got on the L.A.R.C, Thanos sitting down in the sole seat, while the Prince stood on the spherical platform the throne was attached to, surfboard in hand.  
  
"You enjoyed that, didn't you?" the Prince asked as Thanos punched in a few a codes on his control pad.  
  
Just before Thanos6 punched the final button, to send the L.A.R.C. back to the Vanguard, he smiled the 'Thanos' smile, and a tiny point of red light appeared in each eye as he replied.  
  
"Immensely."  
  
****************************************  
  
In New York, NY., a young blonde boy dressed in casual clothes ran into an empty alleyway. He seemed short for a sixteen year old, but young Billy Blake didn't mind so much. After all, he could change that with but a word.  
  
The young man raised his fist to the heavens and cried out in aloud voice.  
  
"SHATAM!"  
  
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning broke the sky and struck the boy's outstretched hand, the lightning collecting into it and forming into an ancient Norse war hammer, even as Billy began to glow and crackle with power as the magic lightning ran over him. With a mighty swing, Billy slammed the butt of still-mostly-energy hammer onto the ground, and the area erupted in a white light.  
  
And when the smoke and light cleared, young Billy Blade was no more, replaced by the heroic image of Captain Thunder. Clad in a scarlet bodysuit that left his powerful arms bare, with black and yellow boots and a long white cape, he looked every bit of his title as the World's Mightiest Immortal. The long blonde hair was a big hit with the ladies as well. More impressive still was the powerful lightning bolt that was proudly displayed on his chest, as well as the mighty hammer in his hand.  
  
Gifted with the Wisdom of Solomon, the Speed of Hermes, the Stamina of Atlas, the Hammer of Thor, the Courage of Achilles and the Strength of Magni, Captain Thunder was rightly regarded as one of the most powerful and capable heroes of this world.  
  
With a twirl of his hammer, Captain Thunder was now flying through the air, heading towards the place that was a second home for himself: The Justice Legion of Avengers mansion.  
  
Captain Thunder gently landed on before the door of the mansion, the security systems within recognizing him as he landed. He raised his hand to knock on the door, but before he could begin, the door opened, and the Captain found himself greeted by Jarvis Pennyworth, the caretaker of the Legion's mansion. As always, Thunder was amazed at the almost supernatural ability Jarvis had regarding the arrival of the mansions heroes, and one day he swore he'd find out how he did that.  
  
"Good day, Master Thunder," the humble manservant said with a smile. "The others are waiting for you in the meeting chamber."  
  
"I thank thee for thy kind welcome," the Captain said as Jarvis escorted him towards the room. "Dost thou know why Marv-El didst call us to assembly? A red alert brought me here swiftly, but has left me with only questions about the crisis."  
  
"Master El has decided to wait until the entire team is assembled before discussing the problem at length. All he has said thus far is that it is a crisis of multiversal proportion."  
  
"By the Wizard's Beard," the Captain said in surprise. "Then pardon my rudeness, friend Jarvis, as I must make my way to the room in haste!"  
  
With that, the Speed of Hermes went into overdrive and Captain Thunder was at the doors to the meeting room in under a second. He opened the doors hurriedly, and was pleased to see the entire Justice Legion of Avengers assembled around the table.  
  
Standing at the far side of the table, was Overlmarvel, one half of the Legion's leadership, and Zechs Zonzz, the Marquise Manhunter, the Legion's telepath and tactician. The rest of the Legion were all seated about the large round table that bore the Legion's shield insignia on its center.  
  
Next to Marv-El sat the American Knight, stoic champion of liberty and the common man and the other half of the Legion's leadership. Next to the Knight sat Steelman, the armored avenger whose fortune funded the Legion. Beside Steelman sat the Star Lantern, the emerald Protector of the Universe. The Captain was a bit surprised to see Arthur the Sub-Mariner here, as the Lord of Atlantis was suppose to be getting married to Merranna today. The Captain's eyes paused a moment as he looked at the Lady Wonder, the Amazon whose red eyes glowed with power both mystic and ionic, and whose beauty was as great as ever. Fearing his eyes had stayed on her too long, he quickly turned to see Conner Hawkeye, the team's archer, meditating calmly. Next to the archer sat the twins. Mercury, the red and silver clad speedster, and Zatanna, the Scarlet Witch. Mercury was tapping his finger on the meeting table at superspeed, making a noise that sounded like a several thousand tiny footsteps all running in place. Zatanna reached over and put her hand reassuringly on her brother's hand, in an attempt to keep him from becoming more agitated. Ray Pym, the scientist also known as Macromite, sat in his oversized chair, having assumed his more gigantic proportions for this meeting. On his shoulder sat Hummingbird, the winged warrior woman from another world, with whom Pym had shared the secrets of size alteration. The android known as the Red Vision sat with his arms crossed, as he looked at the Scarlet Witch while trying not to look like he was looking at her. This seemed to amuse the Black Huntress, the former Russian mob assassin and spy turned superhero. Lastly, the 'relatively' young Eternal known as Vulkan sat in his chair, using his power over molecules to make himself a soda out of thin air.  
  
Captain Thunder's heart swelled with pride to be a member of such a group, even as his wisdom recognized that if all sixteen members of the Prime Justice Legion of Avengers were here, the threat was grave in deed.  
  
"Ah, Captain," Marv-El said, greeting his friend and sometimes rival. "Now that we're all here, we can get down to business."  
  
"I do apologize for being so late in arriving," Thunder said as he sat down.  
  
"As well you should, Thunderer," Mercury snapped. "The rest of us have been waiting here for well over an hour while you were off doing 'who knows what'."  
  
"Brother," Zatanna said somewhat sternly, "it's barely been five minutes since we've gotten here."  
  
Mercury looked at her, then at the meeting room's clock, then finally looked at Captain Thunder, and then laughed sheepishly. "Whoops," the young Pietro West said. "You're right sister. I apologize, Captain. It seems I was so nervous about the coming threat that I activated my superspeed metabolism and felt time pass more slowly."  
  
Captain Thunder merely smiled. "Tis' alright, friend Pietro. One can hardly take offense when the Fastest Man Alive considers one 'slow'."  
  
"If we may dispense with the idle chatter," the perturbed Sub-Mariner said, "I'd like to find out what was important enough to call me away from my wedding."  
  
"Arthur is right," Overmarvel said. "I've called this meeting because I've learned of a grave crisis that is now before us."  
  
Overmarvel closed his eyes and took in a deep breath as he focused his thoughts. For a moment, with both his eyes and his mouth closed, it appeared that Overmarvel's face had become a window to the universe. The cosmic awareness that enhanced his senses also marked his features with a star like field that extended over his face, making it appear like a cloudless night sky.  
  
Marv-El opened his eyes and spoke. "As you all know, I am Cosmically Aware. I am in tune with the very fabric of the cosmos, and can detect disturbances on a universal scale. This ability has alerted me to what may be the largest crisis we've ever faced."  
  
There were several gasps of surprise at that. Marv-El was not one for idle boasts or known for his sense of humor. If he said they were facing the largest crisis every, he was being 100% serious.  
  
"Can't you tell us any more than 'A threat is coming and it's really, REALLY big'?" Steelman asked. "Your cosmic premonitions are always accurate, and they're generally not so vague."  
  
Marv-El shook his head. "This time is unfortunately different. When the threat flashed in my mind, it was so powerful, so overwhelming that the sheer enormity of it blotted out all other information regarding it. I can't recall anything else."  
  
"Perhaps," Zechs Zonzz said in his usual calm tone, "that is not the case."  
  
Overmarvel turned to his friend, an inquisitive eyebrow raised. "How so?"  
  
"When you initially received your 'cosmic flash', I felt your anguish from across the mansion. I flew to your side as quickly as I could, easing your pain with my telepathic abilities. When I did so, I took part of your pain, part of the information that was overwhelming you, into myself. That relatively small piece of knowledge nearly fried my mind, as I am not accustomed to perceiving cosmic forces of that magnitude. I had to shunt most of it away, but I still have some of that information within myself, hidden in the back of my mind. I believe that subconsciously, you yourself still retain much of the information regarding the crisis."  
  
A smile slowly spread over Marv-El's face in realization. "Then using your telethapy and my cosmic senses to peer within our minds, the two of us may yet uncover more of this mystery."  
  
"Exactly," the Marquise Manhunter nodded, the corner of his mouth rising slightly to form a small smile. "Though with the help of Zatanna, I believe it is possible to uncover even more than the two of us by ourselves could hope to do."  
  
All eyes turned to Zatanna, who looked at Manhunter inquisitively. "What do you have in mind, Zechs?"  
  
****************************************  
  
"Oh DAMN!" Lina Inverse said as she barely dodged to the side as an explosion went off right where she had just been. The short red haired sorceress rolled to her feet and muttered a few more unintelligible curses under her breath. She couldn't believe how badly this battle was going.  
  
Standing before her on the empty grass field was a large demon, though the word demon seemed ill-equipped to convey the creature's horror and power. He was a giant of a creature, many times larger than the petite spell caster before him. His skin was red, colored like the blood that beat within the darkest of all hearts. Piercing ruby red eyes stared out from a ghastly horrific face that was framed by enormous horns that jutted out from the back of it's skull, that turned and twisted forward, as if reaching forward to impale whatever stood before it.  
  
Said demon was at this moment in the process of lobbing yet another in a long series of fireballs at the aforementioned diminutive sorceress. She was just about to cast a deflection spell when a tall man with long blonde hair and blue armor suddenly interposed himself between the incoming sphere of flame and the young woman behind him. His right hand slashed through the air and introduced the blade of the sword in his hand to the blazing orb headed towards him. A normal sword's blade would have evaporated on hitting a large ball of magic fire.  
  
Then again, a normal sword's blade isn't composed of pure mystic energy.  
  
The aptly named Sword of Light cleaved the fireball in two, and the mystic flame dispersed in the traditional pyrotechnic display that accompanied most exploding fireballs. Which is to say it exploded brightly, with a loud 'KATHOOM!' that shook the ground and kicked up a wind strong enough to billow the blonde man's long main dramatically. As the light died down, Lina took a moment to look at the man standing before her, gallantly rushing to her rescue. Gourry Gabriev generally tried to be the knight in shining armor, and Lina had to admit, at times like this he succeeded masterfully.  
  
"So Lina, remind me again why we're fighting this guy?"  
  
Until he opens his mouth.  
  
Lina almost pitched backwards in disbelief, but managed to catch herself before she fell. She glared at Gourry, who was looking at her with the most sincere look of uncomprehension on his face.  
  
"DAMNIT GOURRY!" Lina said, barely restraining herself from bashing him over the head. "This is the THIRD TIME I've had to explain it to you!"  
  
"Sorry," Gourry replied sheepishly. "I have a hard time paying attention to things like that during a fight."  
  
"Then what makes you think you'll get it THIS time?"  
  
Gourry shrugged and Lina once again had to keep from decking him.  
  
"Alright," she said with a sigh, "for the last time, that's the Demon Lord Shabranigdo, formerly the eyes of Rezo, the Red Priest."  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Rezo was blind, and the demon lord hid himself inside Rezo's eyes. When Rezo cast a spell to give him his sight back, the demon grew strong enough to possess him."  
  
"Still with you."  
  
"And what do demon's usually do after years of imprisonment?"  
  
"Kill people and break stuff."  
  
"And since we were trying to keep Shabranigdo imprisoned, and since we refused to work for him, who would he be trying to kill first?"  
  
Gourry thought for a moment. "Us?"  
  
"Bingo. So you, me, and the formerly conscious Zelgadis," she said, pointing at the unconscious part man, part demon, part rock golem taking up space on the battlefield, "came to stop him."  
  
Gourry nodded again. "Okay. I still don't get one thing, though."  
  
Lina gritted her teeth and managed to mutter, "And that is . . . . . ?"  
  
"Why aren't we winning?"  
  
Lina couldn't restrain herself anymore. With a solid whack, she decked the blonde warrior upside the head so hard that he was airborne, and took a few seconds to come crashing back to the ground.  
  
"BECAUSE YOU IDIOT, HE'S A DEMON LORD!" Lina yelled at the top of her lungs. "He's not just a BANDIT or something you can kill by waving my sword around!"  
  
Gourry glared at Lina. "The Sword of Light has been in my family for GENERATIONS, Lina. It's not now and never has been yours. Quit saying that!" Then he saw that Lina was two seconds away from decking him again, he quickly added, "Okay, so the Dragon Slave, my Sword of Light, and Zelgadis' Vlave Howl haven't taken this guy out. What's left?"  
  
"Well," Lina said, her anger doused by the need to think, "There IS a spell I know called the Giga Slave, the most powerful spell in all Black Magic. That MIGHT kill him if I have enough time to cast it."  
  
Gourry nodded and then glanced quickly at Shabranigdo, at which point his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "Well, whatever you do, do it quick! Ugly over there's getting ready to shoot us again!"  
  
Lina looked at the demon as Gourry got to his feet, ready to defend Lina again if he had to. Sure enough, Shabranigdo reached back with one mighty, clawed hand, a hand that quickly filled with mystic flame, shaping into an orb that was at least three times the size of the last one he had hurled.  
  
"You better get to it, Lina!" Gourry yelled, even as Lina was about to explain that to cast the spell, she'd need the Sword of Light as a focus. Not knowing this, Gourry continued, "Either hit that thing with that whatever-Slave, or-"  
  
Suddenly, between the humans and the demon appeared a disk of pure white energy, out from which walked a man and a woman.  
  
"Well," Ares said as he stepped out. "Another fantasy world. I hope this one is a little more friendly to the tourists than Lodoss wa-," but he cut himself off as he saw the huge sphere of fiery death headed towards him. Without pause for thought, Ares quickly pushed Tifa away, throwing her over twenty yards away from himself a scant second before the fireball connected and erupted into an enormous explosion. Tifa covered her eyes to shield them from the harsh light assaulting them, even as she vainly tried to cry her lover's name over the din of the blast.  
  
Lina, Goury and Shabranigdo observed this with surprise, and became even more surprised when over the roaring, dancing power of the mystic eruption was heard a yell.  
  
"SON OF BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITCH!"  
  
And with that, the explosion was silenced as Ares' battle aura flashed into being and drowned out the mystic inferno around him, replacing it with a blaze spawned from ki and anger. He stood there a moment, the land shaking violently as he roared with both his voice and his power.  
  
Then, he vanished from sight, only to re-appear right in front of the demon lord, anger in his eyes such like the demon had seen only in the eyes of his masters. Shabranigdo barely had time to weakly mutter what translated from 'Ole Fiendish' to 'Common' as "Mommy". Without pause, Ares struck the monster across the face, and felt with satisfaction the bones of the face crumble to powder. Again and again he viciously smashed his fists and feet into demon, crushing bones, pounding organs into jelly, making ruin of the demons form, until after long minutes of the non-stop assault, the demon lay dead in a pool of his own blood.  
  
"WHO ELSE WANTS SOME?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!" Ares demanded to anyone within the range of his voice, which was several miles at the volume he was screaming.  
  
Tifa winced as she covered her ears. She was neither shocked nor appalled by Ares outburst. He had said, after all, that he would go 'ape-shit' on the next person that hit him with magic fire. That and she knew a demon when she saw one.  
  
Gourry and Lina looked at this in utter shock. After a few moments, when he could hear properly again, Gourry commented, ". . . . . or we could just let that guy take care of him for us."  
  
Lina nodded non-commentally, as Tifa turned to them and smiled sheepishly. "Oh, don't worry about him. He's only like that when evil guys that need killing hit him for no reason. We come in peace."  
  
She glanced at the simmering pile of demonic refuse that use to be Shabranigdo, and quickly added, "Really."  
  
****************************************  
  
"I must say, Richards, it is a marvelous laboratory you have here," Thanos said, though he silently added, "For a Terran" to his thoughts.  
  
Thanos6 was standing in Five Freedom's Plaza, home to the Fantastic Five. More specifically, he was in the laboratory of one Reed Richards, current smartest man on the planet and leader of the FF. Richards was presently work on some rather large device, using his body's ability to stretch to work on the device no matter how odd the angle.  
  
"Thank you, Thanos," Reed said, not believing that he'd ever utter those words, "Though I-"  
  
"Honey, I've brought you and your guest some drinks."  
  
Thanos and Reed turned from their discussion to see a rather attractive red- head walk into the room, platter with said drinks in hand. Her name was Lissette Richards, wife of this universe's Mr. Fantastic.  
  
"Thank you darling," Reed said as he did something Thanos had RARELY ever seen him do. He stopped working on his device, stretched over to her, resumed his normal shape, and took his glass from her like a normal human being. Thanos6 briefly scanned the area and his mind to make sure he wasn't seeing an illusion or hallucinating.  
  
As Richards gave his wife a loving peck on the cheek, Thanos briefly considered the interesting twist of this universe. In this world, Sue had actually managed to talk Namor into joining the Fantastic Four early in their career, making them into the Fantastic Five. Later, Sue and Namor had married, and after a series of events, Reed had found and married someone just as attractive as Sue, but who was almost his intellectual equal.  
  
"Damnation," Thanos thought to himself. "Reed Richards is the single biggest geek on the planet, and even when he strikes out with Sue, he not only still gets a hotty, but an INTELLIGENT one at that."  
  
Thanos briefly toyed with the idea of vaporizing Richards, but decided that would be wasteful and unethical. Besides, he had always wondered of the mental stability of any woman that could put up with Reed's personality for an extended period of time. They had to either be saints or masochists.  
  
Thanos was shaken from his mental revere by Mrs. Richards offer of liquid sustenance.  
  
"Hello," Liss said pleasantly, completely unbothered by Thanos' . . . . . . . .unique, appearance. "I made this drink based off of a rough estimation of what your physiology is like based off of the various scans you submitted yourself to and your speech pattern. It should be perfectly suited to your rather impressive biology and it should taste good as well. I hope you like it."  
  
Saint. Most definitely a saint.  
  
Thanos took a sip hesitantly, then smiled broadly and took a further gulp. "I must admit with no false praise, Mrs. Richards, that this is the best drink I have ever had in my existence, and I've been to Olympus."  
  
Liss smiled as her cheeks reddened slightly. "Thanks, that's very sweet of you," she said as she gave Thanos a quick peck on the cheek. "Well, I'll leave you two to your work. And be sure to let me if our two guests are staying for supper Reed. Sue and I need to know how many we need to cook for tonight."  
  
Reed looked at her, puzzled. "I thought this was Ben and I's turn to cook tonight?"  
  
Liss winked at her husband as she replied, "I know, but we have guests, and if they're staying over, we just as soon not subject them to you and Ben's 'Reactor Level Chili", no matter HOW tough their immune systems are. Love you."  
  
"You too," Reed said as he waved to her.  
  
For a long moment, two of the smartest beings on the face of the Earth watched the attractive genius leave the room and took a moment to sigh contently. Thanos had to actually put some effort into NOT vaping Reed this time.  
  
Instead, he merely said, "Well then, Reed, how is the scanner coming?"  
  
Reed snapped out of his little 'gosh I'm so lucky' daze and turned to his guest. "Ah, yes, the Cross Continuum Scanner. With the data you've given me, which is considerable to say the least, I believe I can quantify the proto-quantum fluxes that I had been picking up earlier. I must say that your information does reveal quite a bit of answers that I had been looking for. I wish only that the results were not so grave."  
  
"I concur," Thanos agreed, a microscopic smile forming at the corner of his mouth. It was good to be talking with someone near his own I.Q. level again. "Fortunately, with this information, you and your world can prepare in case this threat arrives while my ally and I aren't here. Perhaps with my information and your considerable skill, your universe will be spared any serious damage."  
  
Reed's face fell slightly as he said, "I certainly hope so, Thanos."  
  
Thanos could read the concern in the scientists face, knowing that his thoughts were on his family's safety. And not just his wife, Richards had a daughter as well, though he hadn't actually gotten around to telling Thanos the child's name.  
  
Ten years old, red hair like her mother's and enough cosmic energy flowing through her veins to make Firelord jealous. Thanos had also seen the son of Namor and Susan walking with the girl, the boy a year older and having inherited his father's physical abilities as well as a few other ones due to the cosmic energy of his mother.  
  
Thanos briefly considered the odds of those two becoming romantically involved later on in life, and calculated it as almost a 94.7% certainty. He then pondered what sort of powerhouse their offspring would be, based on combining two cosmically enhanced physiologies, one with the human potential for mutation and the other with Namor's superhuman Atlantian abilities.  
  
He then imagined what Franklin Richards would be like if you combined that vast cosmic power with superhuman physical abilities like super-strength and invulnerability.  
  
And made a mental note to visit this dimension often and stay on that kid's good side.  
  
"I'm sorry we couldn't be of more help," Reed commented. "Ever since that Onslaught fiasco, we haven't-"  
  
The entire foundation of the Five Freedom's plaza shook violently for a moment, causing several random tools and beakers throughout Reeds lab vibrating wildly. Miraculously, as the quake subsided, nothing was damaged.  
  
Reed ran a hand through his hair as he turned to Thanos, saying, "Given no intruder alarms are blaring at this moment, and that my scanners designed to detect cosmic phenomena are quiet, I can only assume your ebony friend is giving my teammates quite the work out."  
  
"That or they finally bored him and he's killed the lot of them in disgust," Thanos replied deadpanly.  
  
Reed looked at Thanos for a long second, analyzing the clones facial features before replying, "I ALMOST couldn't tell you were joking."  
  
Thanos' smile became a bit more visible. "You should see my poker face."  
  
Reed nodded and stretched one hand over to the wall sized monitor screen and tapped in a few numbers. On the screen appeared an image of the Fantastic Four's training room, based loosely off the Danger Room, with some modifications and advancements of Reed's own design. Inside said room, they saw the Prince Surfer, yelling at the Fantastic Five members within the room.  
  
***  
  
"You could at least ATTEMPT to make this interesting!" he roared, though he had to admit the four of the Five present were giving a good account of themselves, given their power-level.  
  
The Thing had the Prince in a Full Nelson lock, while the Invisible Woman had wrapped force spheres around the Prince's fists, which both contained any energy blasts he would have fired and softened the blows of any punches he dealt. Namor was smashing his fists relentlessly against the Surfer's face, even as the Human Torch struggled to regain his senses from the last attack the Surfer had unleashed. A rather impressive display of teamwork, the Torch's dazed state notwithstanding. It still wasn't enough for the Surfer's tastes, however. Something was missing, and though it had taken him a while to figure it out, it had finally come to him.  
  
Namor was simply being too blasted NICE.  
  
In his own reality, the Surfer had to admit a certain fondness for the Avenging Son. Namor was fellow royalty, and carried himself with the proper air and attitude of a warrior prince. His battle prowess was great for a being of his class, and his fury was such that it reminded the Surfer of his Sayian brethren.  
  
Now, however, the fire was gone from his eyes. The Avenging Son had been tamed by a human, and had become a . . . . . . a FAMILY MAN. He had gone so far as to marry that human woman and have children with her. The thought of settling down and procreating with a normal Earth female made a cold shiver run up the Prince's spine, which was amazing considerable the coldness of space affected him not at all.  
  
But, the Prince mused, there was an upside to this. Being a happily married man, it took no great thought as to how one might re-ignite that fire.  
  
The Prince reached back unexpectedly and boxed the area of Ben Grimm's head that would have been his ears if had been in the possession of any. Cushioned though the blows were, they still had force enough to cause Ben to loosen his grip. Yet the Prince was not done. For a brief moment he let his rage consume him, and the golden aura and skin that accompanied this rage flashed into existence. With a roar he sent cosmic enhanced ki erupting from his hands, shattering the Invisible Woman's shield and slamming into the Thing's face like a punch from an enraged Hulk.  
  
Susan Storm cried out in pain and crumpled to the floor, her mind overloaded from the strain of her field shattering. Ben Grim flew backwards from the force of the attack and imbedded himself in the far wall, just as unconscious as his beauteous teammate.  
  
Even as the Prince let his rage cool and resumed his base power-level, Namor turned quickly to the sound of his wife's pained voice, and watched her collapse to the floor. The face that turned back to the Prince was one consumed with as much anger as that which had first trigged the Princes first Super Sayian transformation.  
  
"IMPERIOUS REX!"  
  
With that, Namor erupted onto the Surfer, assailing him with a virtual wave of punches that could have hammered a lesser being into submission in mere seconds. This brought a smile to the Prince's features, now that Namor was how he should be.  
  
Namor continued to launch punch after punch, and rather than merely take them, the Prince joined in the battle, parrying Namor's attacks and responding in kind with a barrage of his own, carefully controlling his attacks so that he hit Namor only as hard as Namor was hitting him. This went on for several minutes, and for a little while, the Prince found himself enjoying this struggle with a being that was so like himself.  
  
"FLAME ON!"  
  
Which naturally meant they were going to be interrupted.  
  
Out of nowhere, the Human Torch came crashing into the Prince, tackling the Prince unexpectedly and knocking him off his feet.  
  
"COMPUTER!" Johnny Storm screamed, "Execute maneuver Omega Flame 5B!"  
  
The Prince was just about to halt their movement when the bottom half of a large metal sphere rose quickly from the ground, even as the top half descended from the ceiling. The two halves clamped together around the two cosmically charged superbeings, and the Prince could detect several layers of force field suddenly generate around the interior wall of the sphere.  
  
"Alright your Royal Spikeyness," the Human Torch said with a smirk, "Let's see you laugh this off!"  
  
The Prince realized what the whelp was doing a moment before he actually did it, and gave a small mental salute to the boy's ingenuity.  
  
"NOVA FLAME!"  
  
***  
  
Outside the metal sphere, Namor was checking on the condition of his wife. Relief flooded his features as Sue began to regain consciousness, and he hugged his wife gently, even as the Thing slowly removed himself from the wall.  
  
All three of the heroes turned towards the sphere in the room and at the same moment, realized what was about to happen.  
  
"JOHNNY!" Sue yelled despite throbbing skull, "DON'T-!"  
  
But it was too late. Even as she spoke, white light could be seen through the hairline creases of the sphere, and the air began to visibly shimmer around the sphere as the room became noticeably warmer, even with the 20 layers of force field reinforcing the experimental Durainium Reed had concocted especially for its flame resistance.  
  
For a long second there was silence, as all three of them wondered if even the mighty Prince Surfer could withstand the Nova Flame of the Human Torch at such close proximity.  
  
They needn't have worried.  
  
The entire sphere shattered like cheap pottery as the Prince's battle cry echoed throughout the room, his blazing gold battle aura ripping the containment sphere to shreds even as he spared the unconscious Torch from the fury rending the metal orb asunder.  
  
The Prince casually dropped the dazed hero to the floor, and in a clear voice dripping with sarcasm said, "Ha. Ha. Ha."  
  
"Oh DAT'S IT!" Ben Grimm rumbled. "IT'S CLOBBERIN TIME!"  
  
Namor nodded his head and joined his orange hued companion in charging at the still glowing Super Sayian.  
  
"What, no 'Imperious Rex'?" The Surfer said mockingly, and took up a battle stance. Time to show these Terrans what real fighting was.  
  
However, before hostilities could be renewed, a wall of golden energy appeared between the combatants, preventing either side from attacking.  
  
"I can't take you anywhere, can I?" Thanos6 asked wearily from the doorway of the training room, his quantum bands glowing brightly as they kept the two groups at bay.  
  
The Prince powered down as he replied, "Don't take that tone with me, clone. I grew bored while you and Richards prattled on about inane scientific theory. Gods, I don't know if the two of you were flirting with each other, but it was definitely sickening."  
  
The three conscious members of the FF team glanced at Reed with inquisitive looks on their faces, to which Reed rolled his eyes in response.  
  
"No, we were not," Reed said with finality.  
  
"Regardless," the Prince continued, "If your teammates offer to 'spar' with me, they should not expect me to 'coddle' them. They're fortunate that I held back as much as I did."  
  
Reed took a moment to glance around at the room, assess the damage done to it (roughly 2 million dollars worth), and at the haggard state of his teammates, and ask, "This was holding back?"  
  
Thanos6 nodded. "Believe it or not. You are fortunate he didn't get carried away. This building would be a large crater in the middle of the city."  
  
"Should the city have survived," the Prince added.  
  
The conscious members of the FF blinked audibly in surprise, the Thing being the first to give voice to his thoughts.  
  
"Holy CRUD. Rem'nd me ta quit antagonizin Norrin when he stops by. Last thing I want is fer our Surfer ta be sore wit us."  
  
***  
  
After helping the FF repair their damaged room and apologizing profusely to Reed for the inconvenience, the cosmic couple headed back towards Thanos's ship, both atop the Prince's board.  
  
"You know," the Surfer said with a smile that bordered on malicious "I haven't properly thanked you for dragging me along on this quest."  
  
Thanos raised a single thick brow in curiosity, while managing to hide his perplexity. The Prince thanking someone was as rare as seeing Cyclops belly- laugh.  
  
The Prince continued. "It's been exactly 15 dimensional jumps so far, and in every single jump, I was able to do battle with a fairly large number of super-beings. HA! Do you remember that battle with the Imperial Guard? Gladiator would have lasted longer if he were HALF the warrior he claimed to be."  
  
"So in essence," Thanos mused aloud "you're saying that you don't mind so much that we have yet to find either the cosmic threat or a means to kill Galactus, but you don't mind because of the constant battles you are partaking in?"  
  
"Precisely," the Prince said as his cruel smile widened. "If this keeps up, it won't matter if we find a means of killing Galactus in these other worlds or not. By the time we return I'll be powerful enough to kill him myself! HAHA!"  
  
Thanos waited until the Prince had stopped laughing, and then waited several more minutes, before prompting, "You still haven't, by the way."  
  
"Thanked you?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I know. I merely wished to point out that I hadn't."  
  
****************************************  
  
"Are you both prepared?" Zatanna, the Scarlet Witch inquired.  
  
Overmarvel and Zechs Zonzz, the Marquise Manhunter, both nodded as way of reply. Both of them were sitting in the lotus position, legs crossed, hands lying on their knees, and both floated three feet off of the floor. Inside the darkened room that Zatanna used for mystic rituals and study, only the soft light of several candles illuminated those within.  
  
Apart from the three heroes participating in the ritual, only Captain Thunder, the Lady Wonder and Conner Hawkeye were present. Of the JLA, only these three had the knowledge of magic and calm required to not disturb the ceremony about to take place. The rest would have to wait outside for their report.  
  
"Remember," Zatanna said "we're about to tap into powerful forces of the universe, blending magic and psionic energy with awareness of the cosmic. By using the little information you have stored in your minds to reach out to the cosmos, we might be able to gain the full measure of the mystery. By the same token, by mixing all three of these forces together, the results could be unpredictable. For all our caution, we could wind up in the Negative Matter universe or one level of Hell."  
  
"Should that transpire," Thunder replied gently as he gripped his hammer tightly "fear not. Thy friends are here and shall let no harm befall thee."  
  
The Scarlet Witch nodded as she placed a hand on the forehead of both Marv- El and Zechs Zonzz. Both of them were locked in a meditative trance, gathering their will and knowledge in preparation for the joining. She almost wished she hadn't agreed to help carry the burden these two were about to take up. Trying to tap into the full awareness of the universe was a mind blowing experience, especially when the experience was magnified by danger that was beyond cosmic.  
  
But in the end, she knew their chances of unraveling Marv-El's mystery were better with all three of them working in concert. And she would not let her friends down.  
  
"Then let us begin," she said solemnly, and with that, she closed her eyes and began to chant.  
  
It started low, almost inaudible to those without enhanced senses. Words of power spoken in the language of entities not of this dimension, but of realms of far greater power. The three viewers felt a shiver run down their collective spines as red energy began to coalesce around Zatanna's hands. As the chanting grew slowly, steadily louder, the energy traveled around the bodies of the three involved, until the chanting had reached the level of a gentle whisper and all three were wrapped in a gently waving field of shimmering crimson energy.  
  
Abruptly, all three opened their eyes, eyes that glowed with a redness so pure and bright that even Lady Wonder's ionic eyes could not match their brilliance. And all at once, the chanting grew louder, from a whisper to a roar that kicked up a wing that extinguished all of the candles in the room, yet the trio were glowing so brightly that they themselves illuminated the area.  
  
Zatanna's voice rose even louder, and with it rose the light and the wind, until Conner Hawkeye was forced to take up a fighting stance to maintain his footing and books were flung from their shelves to circle about the trio within the sphere of glowing energy.  
  
And no matter how high the wind grew, Zattana's voice was heard over it, louder, more powerful than any mere wind could hope to be, and for a moment Lady Wonder and the Captain were reminded of the voices of beings like Zeus, Odin and Shatam himself.  
  
And then it truly began.  
  
The black star night field on Overmarvel's face spread, engulfing all of Marv-El, and indeed, all three of those within the shimmering corona of crimson energy. It looked as though the universe itself have been cut into the forms of three humanoids and was standing there in the room before the stunned audience. Only their red, glowing eyes stood out amongst the skin of stars and planets that covered the three heroes, looking like red suns against a night's sky.  
  
The wind increased even further, and Hawkeye was forced to hold onto Captain Thunder or be blown off of his feet. Thunder grabbed Hawkeye and kept the purple and green clad archer from being taken by the air, and for a moment considered using his powers to dim the wind. Still, he refrained from doing so, for the same reason no one spoke: for fear of disrupting the spell.  
  
And as the three beings at the heart of the mystic maelstrom reached into their minds for answers and briefly touched the universe, the walls of the room creaked audibly as the mystic spells that reinforced the room's durability straining to contain the powerful forces being unleashed.  
  
***  
  
Outside the room, Mercury paced back and forth as such speeds that he appeared to be a solid wall composed of red energy. The creaks and groans emitted by the door were not helping his demeanor in the slightest.  
  
Along with the scarlet speedster, the Red Vision, Star Lantern and Vulkan waited patiently.  
  
"This SUCKS!"  
  
Or at least faked patience for as long as they could.  
  
Vulkan stood up from the waiting couch, one hand glowing with energy. "I'm an Eternal. I've been to mystic ceremonies before AND I'm older than half of this team! Why the Hell am I waiting out here while Thunder, Wonder and Conner are in there with Marv, Zechs and Zatanna?"  
  
"Most likely," the Red Vision replied in his usual controlled, emotionless tone "because of the outburst you have just made and similar ones that you usually make. Zatanna specifically cited them as disruptive to this particular ceremony and the concentration needed to sustain it. If you desire to make yourself useful, why not go aid American Knight, Steelman and Macromite in their scientific overtures?"  
  
The glow of his hand dying down, Vulkan glanced at the Vision and replied, "Ah, you know I don't have the brains for what they're doing, Reddy. All I'm good for there is making materials out of thin air, and they've got everything they need already. At least in there I could keep an eye open for any demons that might pop into the ceremony." The young Eternal failed to see the shiver run up the android's form at the mention of this danger, even as he continued speaking. "I feel so damned useless right now that I could just explode."  
  
"We must all do our part," the Vision said silently. "While it is commendable that you wish to act, we can do nothing but wait."  
  
Star Lantern glanced up at the Vision, a raised eyebrow peaking over his green domino mask. "I'm kind of curious Reddy. You've got a few truckloads of scientific skills logged in your database, but you aren't up with the science guys either. Something the matter?"  
  
It was a rarity to see any emotion flicker across the Vison's features, given his android nature. Confusion was even rarer, but rarer still was the concerned confusion that now briefly traveled up and down his face. His eyes turned briefly towards the door, even as his mind turned to the young sorceress in the crimson costume within.  
  
And as if by magic, the door opened, and a very drained Scarlet Witch poked her head through the door.  
  
"It is done," she murmured weakly, before passing out. Though had she stayed conscious a little longer, she might have been surprised at how the Red Vision beat even her brother Mercury to her side and caught her before she could fall very far.  
  
***  
  
"This is definitely a crisis of multiversal proportion," Marv-El said as he sipped the herbal tea Conner had prepared. "When we were linked, we were in touch with the universe in a way even I had never been before. It was beautiful and terrifying at the same time."  
  
Overmarvel stared out into space for a moment, then turned back to his colleges. All of the JLA were seated around the meeting table, save for the Scarlet Witch, who was in the medical bay recovering, and both the Red Vision and Mercury, who were staying by her side.  
  
"What we were able to gather," Marv continued "was that the threat will come from outside our own universe. We also know that in a few hours, our dimension is going to be breeched by some unknown force, very likely the outside force in question. Lastly, we know that if the threat is not stopped, it will ravage our universe and continue on to all others, until every universe in existence has been annihilated."  
  
The faces of the JLA ranged from shock to outright horror. This sounded worse than the Anti-Watcher they had dealt with during the War of the Infinity Gauntlet. Still, all shock and horror faded, and soon their faces were set with grim determination. This group of heroes had sent every threat to come their way packing, and they had no intention of slipping up now.  
  
"What do you propose, Marv-El?" American Knight asked, the co-leader sensing his teammate had a plan already.  
  
"I will take a small but powerful contingent of heroes to that spot that I mentioned, and wait for the arrival of that force. The location is right at the edge of our solar system, so if battle should commence, it will be fairly isolated. My team will gather what information we can and investigate the matter. The rest of you will remain here and organize the rest of Earth's heroes and begin preparing for the invasion. All of our allies should be brought in on this, from the Justice Society of Invaders to the X-Siders to the New Teen Warriors. It might even be wise to get the Power Heroes for Hire Co. on line just in case."  
  
"What about the Great Legion Antartica?" Vulkan asked, somewhat hesitantly.  
  
Marv-El thought a moment, then let out a very reluctant sigh. "Yes, I suppose even them."  
  
Vulkan nodded silently as a shudder passed through the ranks. If they needed the likes of Mr. Multi-Man, Sir Bertha, Dinah Master, Door King and Flat-Out-Disaster, then they were REALLY in trouble.  
  
"Who will be going with you?" the Knight asked.  
  
"It will be a small group," Marv-El replied. "Myself, Zechs and Thunder. The three of us have sufficient power, mobility and tactical ability to at least assess the threat and report back before things get too desperate. My awareness and senses will act as our early warning system, Zech's abilities make him an ideal infiltrator, and Thunder can back us with power as few can. It's small, compact and effective."  
  
The American Knight nodded. That group could get the job done with a minimal muss and fuss, and still leave the Earth bound team with enough power should the crisis arrive before they can rally sufficient membership.  
  
"Alright," the Knight replied finally. "Get going."  
  
**************************************************  
  
Jeff, the man known to his colleagues as Grey, decided he could put this off no longer.  
  
It was time to call in the reinforcements.  
  
As a rule, Grey disliked calling on his agents in times of need. It wasn't so much that they were mostly an unruly lot. It wasn't even so much that he had to blackmail half of them into behaving. It was closer to his thoughts on professionalism. By calling on them for help, he was admitting to himself and to them that for all his vaunted mental powers, he could not in fact do this himself. It wasn't a matter of pride, per say, only that he thought that with a little thought, any problems could be solved without brute force accompanying it.  
  
It would appear that this time was not such an instance.  
  
So, with a reluctant sigh, he tapped a button on the rather large compute console before him. A small bit of metal roughly the size and shape of a match popped out of a slot on the console. He picked up and held the 'head' of the 'match' near his mouth and began to speak, revealing it to be a highly miniaturized transmitter.  
  
And what he said was . . . . . .  
  
***  
  
"Non-Existant Man, B.C. Xaiver and Dat Boi, respond."  
  
Samuel looked up from the magazine he was reading, turning his head this way and that, looking around Steve's apartment in search of the voice. A glance at Brian and Steve revealed them to have stopped in the middle of their Wrestlmannia Pi game to do similar searches. Well, actually, Brian was the only one 'searching', as Steve was cursing in surprise and falling out of his chair, but due to his damned luck, he landed on a few pillows that had just happened to be there.  
  
Sam thought for a moment and then realized that he recognized that voice.  
  
"Ah SHIT," he said out loud. "Grey, is that you?"  
  
"Yes," the voice responded, to which Sam sighed loudly, even as Steve managed to stop cursing for a moment.  
  
"Damnit man, this don't sound like telethapy. You wanna share with me how the fuck you talkin to me without the courtesy of a phone?"  
  
"After that last adventure, I decided to install a few precautionary devices in all of my agents, one of which is the communication device we're conversing through now."  
  
"Well FUCK Obi-Wan, I do NOT recall giving you permission to put a two-way- God-DAMNED-radio in my FUCKING SKULL!"  
  
"I don't recall asking."  
  
Sam fumed for a few seconds and after several deep breaths, managed to calm down.  
  
"Look man, I know you helped clear my record with my folks, and I owe you big time. But I would APPRECIATE a little fore-knowledge when you're going to implant some Mother FUCKIN gizmo in my skull, you get me?"  
  
"I understand. However, I would like to point out that if I had asked for your permission, you would have refused. Furthermore, had I told you about the devices afterwards, you would have simply tried to use your powers to rid yourself of them and maybe damage yourself in the process. If I hadn't installed them in you, I would have had no ability to contact you because Non-Existant Man's phone has been cut off, and I would have been forced to simply teleport you three straight to my lab without warning, which could have been inconvenient for you. Additionally, these devices cause you no harm and have no debilitating long term affects on human or even metahuman physiology. I know, I've had several implanted in myself and done extensive testing regarding them. They are a viable precautionary measure with no harmful side-effects that you would have refused based solely on the unpleasant idea that I could contact you at any time, which is something I can do regardless. This way just saves us both time and effort."  
  
Sam tried to find some flaw in Grey's logic, but he always hated arguing with the man because he was just so friggin RIGHT all the damned time.  
  
"And LASTLY, you know full well that I would not contact you unless this was an emergency. I need you all at my lab ASAP. Is there anyone else there besides the three of you?"  
  
Sam thought for a moment, then began to speak, only to have Grey cut him off.  
  
"And realize that the communications device let's me know if you're lying to me."  
  
"Fuck," he muttered under his breath. Then, with a defeated sigh, Sam answered, "Nah man, it's just me, Steve and Brian."  
  
"Good."  
  
Then, without any further warning, the trio vanished from the apartment . . . . .  
  
***  
  
. . . . only to reappear inside Grey's laboratory.  
  
"FUCK!" all three of them cursed in unison. None of them were particularly fond of teleportation, especially without any warning.  
  
Sam looked around the lab and for a moment, his anger and surprise gave way to awe. Every time he was in Grey's enormous headquarters, he always felt like he was in some super-scientific hero base in the graphic novels he read.  
  
Graphic Novels. Not Comic Books. Get it right.  
  
He glanced around the lab, until his eyes finally fell on the large computer area, before which sat the man himself. He hadn't even turned around to greet them, he just stayed at the 'puter and was still flicking switches and turning knobs.  
  
"YO! ASSHOLE!" Sam yelled as he walked towards the super scientist. "You mind giving me a little warning next time you high-jack my molecules?!"  
  
"I'll make a note to do so next time," Grey said without looking, which only made Sam madder.  
  
"Okay, that's it man," Sam said as rapidly approached arm's reach of Grey, "I have had it. I want to know what the hell you put in me, pronto! I'm tired of this runaround bull-shit you're handing me and-"  
  
"I installed exactly 10 different tracking devices, 8 different types of communicators, 6 bio-readout and health monitors, 2 lie detectors, 2 power output monitors and 2 psionic shield enhancer to make your mind harder to read by telepaths. Satisfied?!"  
  
Sam shut up abruptly as he heard something he hadn't ever before: an edge in Grey's voice. The man was apparently upset over something.  
  
A little more calmly, Samuel replied, "Well DAMN man, 30 gizmo's in my body, you'd think I'd've noticed em before you clued me in."  
  
"Each device is roughly half the size of a red blood cell and attached to your bones so as not to interfere with anything. You'd need a high-powered microscope and a map to even begin to find it, let alone notice the difference. And I'm sorry I did it without your permission. I really am, but I didn't have much choice in the matter. I knew something like this would happen eventually and I needed us to be as ready as I could make us."  
  
"You knew WHAT would happen eventually?" Brian asked as he made his way over to the pair, his attention drawn from the Star Trek like scenery by the actual apology Grey had made.  
  
Samuel had noticed it too. If Grey was apologizing, things were really serious.  
  
"Grey," Sam said hesitantly "what's going down? And where are the others?"  
  
"The other three will be here shortly. As for what's going on-" he said as he turned around and faced them, and Sam saw the most haunted look in the man's eyes. The scientist was not just worried, he looked scared.  
  
And now so was Sam.  
  
"-we may be the only thing between this world and complete destruction." 


End file.
